This edited volume focuses on the use of remote sensing techniques to assess and monitor mountainous ecosystems in Africa, with a focus on tracking changes related to climate change and human activity. The book is timely, as the interaction of mountain environmental dynamics with conservation and sustainability is an under-researched issue. The chapters in this volume use remotely sensed data to study a variety of topics related to mountains and their ecosystems, including but not limited to vegetation, energy systems, environmental hazards, ecosystem services, diseases, climatic shifts, geological formations and geomorphological dynamics. The ability to monitor, assess and analyze mountainous regions is aided by the availability of remote sensing products such as optical and microwave sensors and low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The works presented here push the frontier of knowledge on mountain studies and will help shape local, national and global assessments and policies, including efforts toward the achievement of the African Agenda 2063. The book will be of interest to researchers and students in remote sensing, geography, ecology and sustainability, as well as to government organizations and conservation specialists.
Chapter1. Montane grasslands: Biomass estimations using remote sensing
techniques and knowledge gap in Africa.
Chapter2. Unravelling regional
Geodiversity: a GRID-MAPPING Approach to QUANTIFY GEODIVERSITY in the
uThukela District, KwaZulu-Natal.
Chapter3. Monitoring the wildfire activity
and ecosystem response on Mt. Kilimanjaro using Earth Observation data and
GIS.
Chapter4. Ecological Vulnerability Assessment to Grassland Fires in a
Protected Mountainous Area Using Remote Sensing and GIS.
Chapter5. Natural
hazards magnitude, vulnerability and recovery strategies in the Rwenzori
Mountains, Southwestern Uganda.
Chapter6. Assessing the Vulnerability of the
Eastern Africa Highlands Soils to Rainfall Erosivity.
Chapter7. Development
of Lightning Hazard Map for Fire Danger Assessment over Mountainous Protected
Area using Geospatial Technology.
Chapter8. Water resources monitoring over
the Atlas Mountains in Morocco using satellite observations and Reanalysis
data.
Chapter9. Evaluating Settlement Development Change, Pre, and Post-1994
in the Drakensberg Mountains of Afromontane Region, South Africa.-
Chapter10. Digital Soil Mapping for hydropedological purposes of the
Cathedral Peak research catchments, South Africa.
Chapter11. Effect of
Climate Variability and Change on Land Suitability for Irish Potato
Production in Kigezi Highlands of Uganda.
Prof. Samuel Adelabu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of the Free State, South Africa.
Prof. Abel Ramoelo is the Director of the Centre for Environmental Studies, and Associate Professor at the Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria. He is also a research fellow at Department of Geography at the University of the Free State, South Africa
Dr. Adeyemi Olusola is a Postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Geography, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa and Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Dr. Efosa Adagbasa is a Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of the Free State, South Africa.
