Tracking Vegetation Health Over Time in Madagascar: An Analysis for Evaluating Food Insecurity in the Face of Climate Change
Open Access
Author:
Byrnes, Claire
Area of Honors:
Interdisciplinary in Anthropology and Geography
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Kristina M Douglass, Thesis Supervisor Douglas Bird, Thesis Honors Advisor Roger Michael Downs, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Vegetation Health Food Security Madagascar Climate Change
Abstract:
The purpose of this project is to investigate changing patterns of land cover as it relates to vegetation and food sources for Malagasy people living in the Velondriake Marine Protected Area, a coastal region in southwestern Madagascar. To evaluate vegetation health, I applied two vegetation indices – Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI) – to satellite images from 1990 to 2020. To understand changes over time, I performed a change detection analysis after the vegetation indices were applied to each season and the yearly averages. Using these vegetation indices and a change detection analysis, overall, it can be observed that vegetation health is decreasing throughout the region. To further understand the relationship between ecosystem and human health, newspaper articles are referenced with accounts of lived experiences of food security in Madagascar. These sources show that extreme weather induced by climate change, such as cyclones and drought, has decreased food security and caused famine for people throughout the island. By connecting resource distribution to droughts and storms, the information gathered can be used to inform community planning and sustainability for southwestern Madagascar. Community leaders could be provided with information about vegetation health, and policymakers could utilize recommendations concerning land management and biodiversity conservation.
