Sen4Moz

Conservation areas are key in reducing deforestation and degradation in African woodlands. However, achieving conservation targets equitably requires balancing conservation with competing land uses in and around protected areas that are crucial for the livelihoods of local communities relying on semi-subsistence agriculture. Our knowledge regarding the dynamics of shifting cultivation in conservation areas remains scarce and workflows for producing spatially, temporally and thematically detailed maps of the extent and status of shifting cultivation agriculture are needed to better understand the impacts of shifting cultivation on conservation areas. SEN4MOZPARKS is a joint project between the Faculty of Agronomy and Forest Engineering of Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo (Mozambique) and the EOLab at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany). We leverage satellite EO data to provide spatially and temporally detailed Information about shifting cultivation. Our findings support the formulation of public policies and incentive programs that promote sustainable agricultural practices, assisting in both the conservation of protected areas and the socioeconomic development of the people that depend on these land resources. The methodological fundament for producing these maps are state-of-the-art time-series preprocessing and analysis workflows using Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 time series. The project covers the Maputo National Park, Gilé National Park, and Niassa Special Reserve, including their buffer zones. These areas represent diverse regions of southern, central, and northern Mozambique, each with unique histories of protection status, land use rights, and agricultural activities, representing a good basis to assess the transferability of our workflow. The resulting knowledge about patterns and dynamics in shifting cultivation systems shall provide robust information to strengthen the communication and collaboration between local communities and protected area managers, reducing conflicts related to access to and use of natural resources.

Funding

ESA, EO AFRICA R&D

Project Partner

Faculty of Agronomy and Forest Engineering of Universidade Eduardo Mondlane

Project members

Patrick Hostert (Principle investigator)
Philippe Rufin (Principle investigator)
Pauline Hammer (Project scientist)
Lennart Eichfuss (Project scientist)