Effects of armed conflict on Lower Casamance National Park environment in the southwestern Senegal

In a national and international context where protected areas play an increasingly important role both in the environment preservation and in the local populations economy, this article aims to determine the impacts of the armed conflict between the Senegalese government and the MFDC on the environmental dynamics of the Lower Casamance National Park. The methodological approach is based on remote sensing for understanding the evolution of vegetation. It is based on the analysis of multi-date satellite images using PCI Geomatica software. This approach allowed to assess spatio-temporal evolution of the Park land occupation and its immediate surroundings since its creation in the early 1970's. The results indicate, against all expectations, a conservation and progress of the forest and a significant degradation of the mangrove mainly due to natural and non-anthropogenic conditions. The other classes (water, savanna, mudflat and salt flats) increase slightly.