South Africa Ecological Conservation II: Identifying and Mapping Riparian Areas in South Africa with Earth Observations

This study, in collaboration with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and the Western Cape Government, used NASA Earth observations to develop a geospatial tool for estimating the extent of woody riparian vegetation across South Africa. SANBI currently lacks comprehensive GIS datasets on these wetlands, hindering effective conservation planning and management of these critical ecosystems. Our approach involved delineating potential riparian zones using path distance analysis and classifying woody vegetation within those zones using NDVI thresholds for each watershed area. This methodology was performed across the entire nation to obtain a national woody riparian vegetation map. Additionally, a more complex methodology centered around a Random Forest classification was performed on a few regions of interest. The results of this classification were very similar to the simpler NDVI threshold method. These results provide SANBI with an estimate of woody riparian vegetation distribution, supporting more informed conservation decisions. While limitations exist, the project enhances efforts to protect South Africa's riparian ecosystems and mitigate climate change impacts on biodiversity. The simplified methodology enabled timely completion of a nationwide dataset, though further refinements are possible with additional computational resources.