3rd project phase (June 2007 - August 2010): GIS and Remote Sensing in Support of Biodiversity Management at the Landscape Scale for Rainforests in Eastern Africa

Within BIOTA East Africa, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) since 2001, the influence of fragmentation and human use on the biodiversity of East African rainforests is investigated following an interdisciplinary and integrated research approach. Especially when aiming at recommendations at the landscape level and including global change aspects, biodiversity research is in need of geo-spatial data. While in the 1^stphase subproject E02 works were dedicated to trace gas measurements as well as to GIS and remote sensing activities, from phase 2 E02 has emphasized on supporting the BIOTA-East aims via geospatial data processing. The final phase 3 now is meant to ensure that the numerous spatio-temporal datasets generated for the Kakamega-Nandi Forests (Western Kenya), Mabira Forest and Budongo Forest (both in Uganda) are of use in biodiversity conservation and forest management. However, the regional focus of BIOTA-East phase 3 is Kakamega Forest. Here, the strategy of E02 is not only to provide input of BIOTA spatial information into the management and research arena, but also the adoption of measures, facilities, tools and the building of capacity that will allow the continued integration of spatial aspects into biodiversity research and their implementation into forest and natural resource management planning in Kakamega.

Therefore the objectives for the third phase are:

• The finalisation of the BIOTA-East GIS (data integration, user interface development, training) and geodata visualisation
• Spatial extrapolation of BIOTA-East findings on biodiversity and ecosystem function and interdisciplinary spatial analyses
• Identifying structural parameters and modelling socio-economic scenarios for the farmland and deriving a vegetation map for forest management
• Applying spatial information in forest management and land use planning

The following deliverables have been promised:

• a comprehensive geodata-catalogue featuring (in addition to general geodatasets for Kenya and Uganda) a) Kakamega, Nandi, Mabira, and Budongo Forests regarding forest change over ca. the last 100 years, b) Kakamega Forest region with spatial extrapolations of biodiversity and ecosystem function across the forest as well as with information on the surrounding farmland, and c) all of Kenya and Uganda regarding the intra-annual variation in LAI (leaf area index)
• a regional thematic atlas integrating spatio-temporal research results summarised under the overarching theme ‘Rainforest change over time’ and considering the specific wish of the counterparts in Kenya and Uganda to address three groups of users: decision makers, scientists as well as the local people next to the the three investigated forests
• a customized BIOTA-East-GIS interface to enable effective biodiversity management by non-geoprofessionals
• posters and a multimedia presentation on BIOTA-East work and findings of use to NGOs and CBOs in environmental education, in schools, and to decision makers
• GIS-based models for a spatial extrapolation of data on biodiversity and ecosystem function and for simulations on forest biodiversity change
• spatially explicit scenarios of rural livelihood for protecting biodiversity around Kakamega Forest
• a detailed vegetation map of Kakamega Forest and fragments showing plant communities
• major contributions to a revised version of the participatory Kakamega Forest management plan in the form of textual information and maps
• a pluralistic, harmonized forest-monitoring framework for Kakamega Forest
• landuse plans for selected villages
• a GIS-site in close vicinity to the forest for use by on-ground management and researchers