Monitoring vegetation dynamics in East Rennell Island World Heritage Site using multi-sensor and multi-temporal remote sensing data
East Rennell of Solomon Island is the first natural site under customary law to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Potential threats due to logging, mining and agriculture led to the site being declared a World Heritage in Danger in 2013. For East Rennell World Heritage Site (ERWHS) to ‘s...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2020-03-01
|
| Series: | International Journal of Digital Earth |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17538947.2018.1523955 |
| _version_ | 1797678548495892480 |
|---|---|
| author | Mengmeng Wang Guojin He Natarajan Ishwaran Tianhua Hong Andy Bell Zhaoming Zhang Guizhou Wang Meng Wang |
| author_facet | Mengmeng Wang Guojin He Natarajan Ishwaran Tianhua Hong Andy Bell Zhaoming Zhang Guizhou Wang Meng Wang |
| author_sort | Mengmeng Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | East Rennell of Solomon Island is the first natural site under customary law to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Potential threats due to logging, mining and agriculture led to the site being declared a World Heritage in Danger in 2013. For East Rennell World Heritage Site (ERWHS) to ‘shed’ its ‘Danger’ status the management must monitor forest cover both within and outside of ERWHS. We used satellite data from multiple sources to track forest cover changes for the entire East Rennell island since 1998. 95% of the island is still covered by undisturbed forests; annual average normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) for the whole island was above 0.91 in 2015. However, vegetation cover in the island has been slowly decreasing, at a rate of –0.0011 NDVI per year between 2000 and 2015. This decrease less pronounced inside ERWHS compared to areas outside. While potential threats due to forest clearing outside ERWHS remain the forest cover change from 2000 to 2015 has been below 15%. We suggest ways in which the Government of Solomon Islands could use our data as well as unmanned air vehicles and field surveys to monitor forest cover change and ensure the future conservation of ERWHS. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:01:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-47ef514f35c442a197ee48c2013c134f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1753-8947 1753-8955 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:01:27Z |
| publishDate | 2020-03-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Digital Earth |
| spelling | doaj.art-47ef514f35c442a197ee48c2013c134f2023-09-21T14:57:08ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Digital Earth1753-89471753-89552020-03-0113339340910.1080/17538947.2018.15239551523955Monitoring vegetation dynamics in East Rennell Island World Heritage Site using multi-sensor and multi-temporal remote sensing dataMengmeng Wang0Guojin He1Natarajan Ishwaran2Tianhua Hong3Andy Bell4Zhaoming Zhang5Guizhou Wang6Meng Wang7Chinese Academy of SciencesChinese Academy of SciencesChinese Academy of SciencesChinese Academy of SciencesUniversity of ExeterChinese Academy of SciencesChinese Academy of SciencesChinese Academy of SciencesEast Rennell of Solomon Island is the first natural site under customary law to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Potential threats due to logging, mining and agriculture led to the site being declared a World Heritage in Danger in 2013. For East Rennell World Heritage Site (ERWHS) to ‘shed’ its ‘Danger’ status the management must monitor forest cover both within and outside of ERWHS. We used satellite data from multiple sources to track forest cover changes for the entire East Rennell island since 1998. 95% of the island is still covered by undisturbed forests; annual average normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) for the whole island was above 0.91 in 2015. However, vegetation cover in the island has been slowly decreasing, at a rate of –0.0011 NDVI per year between 2000 and 2015. This decrease less pronounced inside ERWHS compared to areas outside. While potential threats due to forest clearing outside ERWHS remain the forest cover change from 2000 to 2015 has been below 15%. We suggest ways in which the Government of Solomon Islands could use our data as well as unmanned air vehicles and field surveys to monitor forest cover change and ensure the future conservation of ERWHS.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17538947.2018.1523955east rennell world heritage site (erwhs)vegetation coverforest coverdynamic monitoringmulti-sources remote sensing data |
| spellingShingle | Mengmeng Wang Guojin He Natarajan Ishwaran Tianhua Hong Andy Bell Zhaoming Zhang Guizhou Wang Meng Wang Monitoring vegetation dynamics in East Rennell Island World Heritage Site using multi-sensor and multi-temporal remote sensing data International Journal of Digital Earth east rennell world heritage site (erwhs) vegetation cover forest cover dynamic monitoring multi-sources remote sensing data |
| title | Monitoring vegetation dynamics in East Rennell Island World Heritage Site using multi-sensor and multi-temporal remote sensing data |
| title_full | Monitoring vegetation dynamics in East Rennell Island World Heritage Site using multi-sensor and multi-temporal remote sensing data |
| title_fullStr | Monitoring vegetation dynamics in East Rennell Island World Heritage Site using multi-sensor and multi-temporal remote sensing data |
| title_full_unstemmed | Monitoring vegetation dynamics in East Rennell Island World Heritage Site using multi-sensor and multi-temporal remote sensing data |
| title_short | Monitoring vegetation dynamics in East Rennell Island World Heritage Site using multi-sensor and multi-temporal remote sensing data |
| title_sort | monitoring vegetation dynamics in east rennell island world heritage site using multi sensor and multi temporal remote sensing data |
| topic | east rennell world heritage site (erwhs) vegetation cover forest cover dynamic monitoring multi-sources remote sensing data |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17538947.2018.1523955 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mengmengwang monitoringvegetationdynamicsineastrennellislandworldheritagesiteusingmultisensorandmultitemporalremotesensingdata AT guojinhe monitoringvegetationdynamicsineastrennellislandworldheritagesiteusingmultisensorandmultitemporalremotesensingdata AT natarajanishwaran monitoringvegetationdynamicsineastrennellislandworldheritagesiteusingmultisensorandmultitemporalremotesensingdata AT tianhuahong monitoringvegetationdynamicsineastrennellislandworldheritagesiteusingmultisensorandmultitemporalremotesensingdata AT andybell monitoringvegetationdynamicsineastrennellislandworldheritagesiteusingmultisensorandmultitemporalremotesensingdata AT zhaomingzhang monitoringvegetationdynamicsineastrennellislandworldheritagesiteusingmultisensorandmultitemporalremotesensingdata AT guizhouwang monitoringvegetationdynamicsineastrennellislandworldheritagesiteusingmultisensorandmultitemporalremotesensingdata AT mengwang monitoringvegetationdynamicsineastrennellislandworldheritagesiteusingmultisensorandmultitemporalremotesensingdata |