Discriminating between vegetation and non-vegetation areas is of crucial importance in the study of mangroves. This will help mangrove monitoring and management since losses and degradation of the mangroves are reported to be substantial in recent years. This study investigates the integration of Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) as a tool to discriminate vegetation covers in the mangrove forest. High resolution remotely sensed images from Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT-6 and SPOT-7) satellite, with 1.5 m spatial resolution over the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve (MMFR) was acquired. A complete ground-truthing was conducted at the preliminary stages of land cover classification. A Moran's I analysis shows a random pattern of groundtruthing; (Kuala Sepetang; p-value = 0.219; Kuala Trong, p-value = 0.163; Sungai Kerang, pvalue = 0.159). Since SAVI requires a suitable L-factor to be used to distinguish the vegetation areas, four different L-factors viz. 0.1, 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 were tested, and the multiple linear regressions, using the stepwise regression method of backward elimination, found that the Lfactor 0.75 was significant to be used for MMFR. A correlation analysis conducted between the results of NDVI, SAVI and supervised classification shows a high significant relationship, especially between NDVI and SAVI (0.991) at 99.99% level. This shows that NDVI and SAVI are useful analyses that can be employed to improve the accuracy of classification in the mangroves.

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This study aims to assess the characteristics of the fuelwood value chain in Yobe, Nigeria. Data were collected through state government records, direct observations, focus group discussions, and interviews with key informants using open-ended questionnaires. Results showed that the fuelwood value chain comprises five functions: harvesting, transporting, trading, retailing, and consumption. The analysis further revealed five sub-chains characterized by actors in which two sub-chains were classified as formal (registered with associations and functioning with licenses) and three were classified as informal (not registered with an association and functioning without license). The presence of informal actors in the value chain observed in this study is widespread due to weak governance, high fuelwood demand, and corruption. Consequently, their poor practices have added extra pressure on the forest and is threatening the environment, fuelwood availability, accessibility, and market. The intrusion of informal actors needs to be properly addressed by the government through measures that include an efficient and flexible licensing system, strict implementation of fuelwood regulations, active monitoring, increase of awareness on the benefits of licensing and operating as registered actors in an organized group on job security, profits, and the environment and improved supervision of the forest laws’ enforcement agents to curtail corruption.

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