PAWAR in Kibale National Park

Overview | Data

Objectives

  • To satisfy the overarching goal of the WHRC and its collaborators with respect to the PAWAR project in general and Kibale National Park in particular: to allow better management of the Albertine Rift's network of protected areas by identifying the location of active deforestation, as well as by aiding predictions of potential future threats.
  • To work with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to protect remaining populations of megafauna, as well as threatened timber and other forest species within the Park.

Products

  • Processed remotely-sensed Aster imagery showing Kibale Naional Park and its mosaic of forest, swamp, and grassland vegetation types.
  • A vegetation classification of the Park (circa 1995) and surrounding landscape delineating both natural and anthropogenic assemblages, including plantations, woodlots, and subsistence farmland.
  • A forest change analysis based on repeated Landsat images collected in 1989 and 2003. This product shows changes in the areas and geographic distributions of natural forest/tree plantations, bushland/woodland, and savannah/agriculture, as well as areas of forest that have been subjected to soft deforestation/forest degradation or clearcutting.
  • Maps depicting field survey data collected by UWA showing sitings of 20 animal species, including chimpanzees, buffalo, duiker, bushpig, and Uganda kob. Data also include signs of poaching and of the encroachment of human activity on the Park's boundaries.
  • Maps showing the locations of primary schools, health centers, towns, and other geographic features within the surrounding districts.

Figures derived from UWA field survey data showing the distribution of elephant, buffalo, and chimpanzee sightings in relation to incidence of poaching and encroachment, which may include evidence of grazing, cultivation, pitsawing, fuelwood collection, and plant gathering. Note that these data have not yet been corrected to remove the bias of survey effort.

A forest change analysis conducted using two Landsat images, the first of which was collected in 1989 and the second in 2003. Classes labeled with just one land use/land class did not change between the two time periods, while land use/land cover transitions are described above. The map analysis was clipped to all Park boundaries except the southern edge of the Park.

Aboverground biomass as derived from MODIS NBAR imagery from the years 2000-2003. Values range from 0 to 298 tons of aboveground biomass per hectare.

 

Overview | Data