Monitoring forest cover and land use change in the Congo Basin under IPCC climate change scenarios. Applications to forest fragmentation and connectivity and potential impacts on Great Apes spatial and behavioral diversity.

The Congo Basin loses approximately 1 million hectares of forest per year as a result of human disturbance and climate change impacts. This forest loss leads to large scale changes in land cover patterns. The rate of these changes is expected to double in the future, as human population grows, and with increased global warming. Wildlife species, particularly endangered primates and large mammals are losing their behavioural diversity and the suitable habitats required for their survival, effects that are predicted to increase in the future. Despite these problems, research is limited in this area and mapping and quantitatively assessing changes in land cover and habitat suitability for most endangered species in this region is critical for their conservation. Moreover, predictions for future land use and wildlife habitat changes under various scenarios of climate change and human population is vital for preparing to address these issues. This project therefore aim at 1) generating accurate land cover maps for the Congo Basin, for the periods 1990-2020, and quantitatively assessing decadal changes in land cover patterns; 2) modeling and projecting these changes to the years 2050 and 2100 under various socioeconomic impact and climate change scenarios; TO BE CONTINUED.

Faculty Supervisor:

Sarah Turner;Damon Matthews

Student:

Partner:

World Wildlife Fund Canada (Montreal, QC)

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Agriculture; Other services (except public administration)

University:

Concordia University

Program: