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has been cited by the following article:

• TITLE: Inter-Annual Vegetation Changes in Response to Climate Variability in Rwanda

  AUTHORS: Felix Ndayisaba, Hao Guo, Alain Isabwe, Anming Bao, Lamek Nahayo, Garee Khan, Alphonse Kayiranga, Fidele Karamage, Enan Nyesheja Muhire

  KEYWORDS: MODIS NDVI, Mann Kendall Test, Vegetation Health, Rwanda, Climate

  JOURNAL NAME: Journal of Environmental Protection, Vol.8 No.4, April 30, 2017

  ABSTRACT: Comprehensive studies on how vegetative ecosystems respond to fluctuations in precipitation and temperature patterns are of great necessity for environmental risk assessment and land-use evaluations. The present study examined the annual trends in vegetation greenness in Rwanda from 2000-2015 and assessed the relationship between these dynamics and climate factors by means of MODIS NDVI, air temperature, SOI and precipitation datasets. Mann Kendal trend test has been utilized to determine the direction and the rates of changes, while Spearman’s rank correlation method has been used to determine the levels of associability between NDVI changes and climatic variables. The results indicate that approximately 11.9% of the country’s vegetation has significantly improved (р