Characterization of Forest Degradation beyond Canopy Cover Change in Mau Forest, Kenya ()
ABSTRACT
Monitoring
Forest degradation is evidence enough to show a country’s commitment to monitor the forest trend both for
national and local decision-making and international reporting processes. Unlike deforestation which
is easier to point out, monitoring forest degradation is quite a challenge
since there is no universal definition and thus no clear monitoring methods
apart from the canopy cover change. This research, therefore, sought to look at the degradation trends in the Mau forest complex between 1995-2020 with the aim of
finding out whether monitoring canopy density changes over time and quantifying
these changes in terms of biomass loss could be a good approach in monitoring
forest degradation. Forest Canopy Density (FCD) model was adopted focusing on using vegetation indices describing
biophysical conditions of Vegetation, Shadow and Bareness to monitor changes in
canopy density as a parameter for describing forest degradation
in the forest blocks of Maasai Mau and Olpusimoru in Mau forest complex.
Results indicated how different vegetation indices responded to changes in the
vegetation density and eventually changes in the canopy density values which
were converted in terms of biomass loss. The forest
Canopy Density model proved to be a good tool for monitoring forest degradation since it combines different biophysical indices with
different characteristics capturing what is happening below the canopy.
Share and Cite:
Ojwala, M. , Mutua, F. and Kinyanjui, M. (2022) Characterization of Forest Degradation beyond Canopy Cover Change in Mau Forest, Kenya.
Open Journal of Forestry,
12, 393-407. doi:
10.4236/ojf.2022.124022.
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