Assessment of Land Cover and Land Use in Central and West Asia and North Africa. Part 1: Land Cover/Land Use- Base Year 1993

Abstract

This publication is the first in a two-volume report of a regional assessment of land use and land cover in the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region using remote sensing techniques and low-resolution satellite imagery. It also covers the results of collaborative work from 1998 to 2002 between ICARDA and the Center for Earth Observations of Yale University in 'Remote Sensing for Natural Resource Management and Environmental Assessment'. Undertaken with financial support from the USAID Linkage Fund of the United States of America to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). It introduces a new method for identifying land use/land cover (LCLU) at a regional scale. based on analysis of the Advanced Very High-Resolution Radiometer (A VHRR) imagery for the base year 1993. and provides a map of land use/land cover for the entire CWANA region at I-km resolution. LCLU is of paramount importance for assessing meteorological conditions (including climatic variability and change) and environmental trends. ICARDA is therefore. a keen partner in studies to assess LCLU across its mandate region. This study offers a 1993 baseline for land management research. It is hoped the data will be updated in the near future, in order to monitor large-scale changes in land use/land cover that are indicators of land use intensification, desertification, climate change or variability.