A preliminary assessment of NigeriaSat-1 for sustainable mangrove forest monitoring

Mangroves constitute an area of great ecological importance and regular assessment and monitoring of this ecosystem is an integral part of environmental management plan. The difficulty of access for ground survey has often limited the frequency of assessment of mangroves and remote sensing methods therefore provide a veritable means of assessment. However, accessibility to remotely sensed data as well as the cost have been major constraints for mangrove assessment in the developing countries. The launching of small satellites by some developing countries may therefore provide a solution to this problem. This paper is an attempt to evaluate the capability of NigeriaSat-1 which is one of the Disaster Management Constellation (DMC) small satellites for generation of baseline information on cover types and areal extents within the mangrove zone in Nigeria. This is important since cover information is always the first step for conservation and management. The study shows that the results obtained from NigeriaSat-1 have comparable accuracy with ASTER and Landsat ETM+. The findings documented in this paper could serve as a springboard for organized wetland management in Nigeria in particular and West Africa sub-region in general.