Evolution of land-cover and land-use between 1973 and 2010 in agro-pastoral area of Lake of Guiers (Senegal)
This study encapsulates the evolution of the occupation and land use in the region of the Lake of Guiers. It also contributes to the characterization of the main spatial entities of the zone between 1973 and 2010. Satellite based mapping techniques have been used and complemented by field verifications, During the period under review, we have witnessed an increase in stretches of water by 14,9 %, aquatic vegetation by 17,5 %, industrial and private agricultural holdings respectively by 207,5 and 5508,8 % and a decrease of shrub-steppe and grassy-steppe of 69,9 and 64,3 %. Modifications in land occupation have become apparent mainly through the substitution of shrub steppe by grassy-steppe between 1973 and 1988 (before the construction of the dams in Diama and Manantali on River Senegal) and the extension of managed agricultural land and aquatic vegetation between 1988 and 2010 (after the construction of dams). Land use in 2010 is marked by the development of irrigated agriculture by 42 % on the zone under review. The important extension of irrigated agricultural land is the source of numerous conflicts over land. In this regard, it is important to update the development of the region as a whole through the frame of national policies of land-use planning and participative local development.