West African Land Cover Reference System

By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

There is an increasing necessity to provide timely and updated information about the status of land resources. It is well-known that land degradation not only results in reduced food production but also in reduced environmental quality, life conditions and health. In West Africa, the most conspicuous symptoms of the negative impact of land degradation on food production are stagnating and declining yields and increasing levels of poverty. There is an increasing need and interest to strengthen regional collaboration for sustainable development through a better understanding of land dynamics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
• Release date: Dec 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9789251372784

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

An intergovernmental organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has 194 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union. Its employees come from various cultural backgrounds and are experts in the multiple fields of activity FAO engages in. FAO’s staff capacity allows it to support improved governance inter alia, generate, develop and adapt existing tools and guidelines and provide targeted governance support as a resource to country and regional level FAO offices. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, FAO is present in over 130 countries.Founded in 1945, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO provides a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. The Organization publishes authoritative publications on agriculture, fisheries, forestry and nutrition.

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Di Gregorio, A., Mushtaq, F., Tchana, E., Aw, M., D'Annunzio, R., Muchoney, D., Mamane, B., Mahamane, M., Assoumana, B.T., Mimouni, M., Aubee, E., Enaruvbe, G.O., Mensah, F., Bartel, P. and Henry, M. 2022. West African Land Cover Reference System. Rome, FAO, AGRHYMET, ECOWAS and OSS. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc0730en

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) or the Agrometeorology, Hydrology and Meteorology Regional Centre (AGRHYMET) or the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) or the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO or AGRHYMET or ECOWAS or OSS in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.

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ISBN 978-92-5-136551-9 [FAO]

ISBN 978-2-492246-00-5 [ECOWAS]

E-ISBN 978-92-5-137278-4 (EPUB)

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Cover design: © James Morgan/FAO

Cover photographs: © Mokhamad Edliadi/CIFOR, © VivAfrik and © Ryan Simpson

Contents

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations and acronyms

Foreword

Executive summary

1. Introduction

2. Object based representation of land information

3. Land cover in West Africa - an overview

4. Regional land cover reference system

4.1. Regional reference system flowchart

5. Rules for the meta class arrangement

5.1. First and second level in land features

5.2. Natural seminatural vegetation

5.3. Natural seminatural aquatic or regularly flooded vegetation

5.4. Cultivated and managed vegetation

5.5. Terrestrial non-vegetated and water and associated areas

6. The West African land cover reference system

7. Using the West African land cover reference system

Conclusion

References

Appendix A - Land cover groups and classes in West Africa

Section I Natural semi-natural vegetation (terrestrial) - Vnt

Tree dominated area – A

Closed tree formation (Ad)

Open tree description (Ac)

Class expansion for tree dominated area

Shrub dominated area - Ab

Shrubland - medium, high (Abm/h)

Shrubland - low/dwarf (Arb)

Class expansion for shrub dominated area

Herbs dominated area – H

Savanna (S)

Steppe (St)

Class expansion for herbaceous dominated area

Section II Natural semi-natural vegetation (aquatic or regularly flooded) - Vnar

Woody dominated area – Sb

Woody mangrove (Ml)

Flooded woody (Bi)

Class expansion for woody dominated area

Herbs dominated area – Adh

Swamps (Ahm)

Salt marsh (Ahms)

Class expansion for herbs dominated area

Section III Cultivated rainfed - Cp

Tree crop plantation – Carf

Forest plantation (Cpf)

Orchards (V)

Class expansion for tree crop plantation

Shrub crop – Cab

Single layer shrub crop (Cabs)

Shadowed crop (Cabo)

Class expansion for shrub crop

Herbaceous crop – Ch

Annual herb cultivation (Canh)

Shifting herb cultivation (Cith)

Class expansion for herbaceous crop

Section IV Cultivated irrigated - Ci

Tree crop dominated – Cad

Orchards (single crop) (Vmi)

Orchards (multiple crop) (Vci)

Class expansion for tree crop dominated

Shrub crop dominated – Ciab

Class expansion for shrub crop dominated

Herb crop plantation – Cih

Single crop - herbaceous irrigated (Mohi)

Multiple crop - herbaceous irrigated (Muhi)

Class expansion for herb crop dominated

Section V Cultivated post-flooded - Cd

Post-flooded herbaceous cultivation – Chai

Class expansion for post flooded herbaceous cultivation

Flooded herbaceous cultivation – Chi

Class expansion for flooded herbaceous cultivation

Section VI Natural surfaces – Sn

Rocks, coarse fragments – Tr

Bare rocks (Sr)

Bowel lateritic crust (Cl)

Stony Desert – Reg (Dp)

Class expansion for rocks, coarse fragments

Soil sand deposit – Ss

Sandy desert (Dsa)

Salt deposit (Ds)

Bare soil (Sn)

Beaches (P)

Class expansion for soil sand deposit

Section VII Artificial surfaces – Sa

Built-up Nonlinear – BNI

Urban areas (Zu)

Rural villages (Vr)

Industrial and others (Ia)

Infrastructure (I)

Class expansion for built-up non-linear

Built-up linear and others – Bla

Class expansion for built-up linear and others

Dump sites and extraction sites – Sd

Class expansion for dump and extraction sites

Section VIII Natural waterbodies – Pen

Permanent Water body – Pep

Class expansion for permanent water body

Seasonal Waterbodies – pes

Class expansion for seasonal waterbodies

Section IX Artificial waterbodies - Ea

Class expansion for artificial waterbodies

Appendix B. Non exhaustive list of existing legends

Appendix C. Using legend file when deriving a legend from West African Land Cover Reference System

Figures

Figure 1. Description of a land cover class for a tree and shrubs savannah

Figure 2. Regional land representation system to support multipurpose land cover and land use activities

Figure 3. Model representation of the graphical format of the class multi crop olive plantation

Figure 4. Examples of the land cover meta language attributes

Figure 5. Overview of system components and their functional relationships

Figure 6.