Multispectral Satellite Datasets for Detection and Mapping of Land Cover Change in a Mediterranean Area of North Africa, Belezma (Algeria)

Abstract

Multispectral satellite images are valuable sources of information for ecologists, agriculture climatologists, or environmentalists. Handling satellite images represents a challenge for better understanding the global change. The Belezma massif by its exceptional geographical position in the Mediterranean region of Northeast Algeria constitutes a fragile hot spot ecosystem with all the degradation factors that directly affect all landcovers. The objective of this study is to determine the contribution of satellite images in the detection of land cover global changes between 1986 and 2021 and landscape monitoring in Belezma region. The methodology adopted is the spatial remote sensing of the evolution of forest stands and the change in land cover, from the processing of Landsat images (L05 TM 1986, L07 ETM+ 2001 and L08 OLI_TIRS 2021) and sampling work for confrontation with the reality on the ground. The outcomes of this investigation demonstrate a general regression rate in the natural vegetation cover that the cedar forest, the steppe, and the wetlands lost 42%, 49%, and 97%, respectively, of their areas between 1986 and 2021, while the degraded and anthropic occupations have increased in favor of market gardening, bare soil, urban areas, and arboriculture by 836%, 158%, 131%, and 50%, respectively, over the same period. This study made it possible to identify and analyze 13 main land uses and plant formations over a period of 35 years, which can be used as a decision-making aid model for the managers of these territories.