Vegetation cover changes in Ngorongoro conservation area from 1975 to 2000: The importance of Remote Sensing Images

Abstract

Ngorongoro conservation area is a multiple land-use system established in 1959 to provide for both wildlife conservation and economic development of resident Maasai pastoralists. A study was conducted by analyzing remote sensing images (Landsat MSS 1975, Landsat TM 1991, and Landsat TM 2000) in order to determine trends in vegetation cover changes between 1975 and 2000. The results indicates that major changes in the study area from 1970 to 2000 involved increase in woody vegetation cover types including forest (+ 48.7%), bush land (+42.7%); and loss of scrubland (-29.1%) and grasslands (-37.0%). Other changes involved invasion of highland grassland by unpalatable grass species (-34.4%). The period covered was associated with restrictive conservation policies that disrupted traditional pastoral mobility restricting large herds of livestock on highland areas that induced range deterioration. It is concluded that pastoral land use system has preserved the savanna landscape in Ngorongoro area whereas land-use policies that disrupts traditional pastoral land use systems threaten a breakdown of savanna ecosystem that supports a tourism industry in the area.