Assessing the Health of Akamkpa Forest Reserves in Southeastern Part of Nigeria Using Remote Sensing Techniques

Abstract EN

Assessment of forest health is very vital because forests form the largest terrestrial ecosystems on earth.

The greenness of vegetation is one of the essential factors used in evaluating the health of forest reserves.

This study is aimed at assessing the health of fifteen forest reserves in Southeastern part of Nigeria using meteorological data and MOD13A1-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI).

Related portions of the monthly MOD13A1 data, derived for the years 2010, 2014, and 2018, were downloaded, and the monthly mean values of the vegetation indices (NDVI and EVI) were estimated for each of the forest reserves using the Spatial Analysis Module in ArcGIS software.

The computed monthly mean values of NDVI range from 0.094 to 0.790 while that of EVI ranges from 0.11 to 0.624 and the rainfall data range from 0 to 780.2 mm/month within the period of study.

Analyses of the correlation coefficients between monthly rainfall data and NDVI, monthly rainfall data and EVI, and that of NDVI and EVI range from −0.827 to 0.584; −0.715 to 0.914, and 0.598 to 0.980.

The obtained results indicate that some of the forest reserves are moderately healthy while some areas are under great stress.

We can conclude that satellite remote sensing is a veritable tool in the assessment, management, and monitoring of forest health especially where there is little or no terrestrially acquired forest inventory data.