Combining remote sensing with local knowledge is vital for understanding forest change in West Africa.

ABSTRACT: Understanding tropical forest change requires integrating satellite observations with insights from forest-dependent communities. In West Africa, where deforestation and degradation unfold within complex social-ecological systems, conventional monitoring often overlooks community insights. We combined Landsat-derived forest cover data (2000-2022) with household surveys from 2,621 respondents across nine forest patches, applying a convergence matrix to compare satellite trajectories with local knowledge of forest change. Two themes were analyzed: forest cover loss and forest regrowth. Sites were classified as full convergence, partial convergence, or dissonance based on directional agreement and the proportion of community responses. Full convergence occurred in four sites where > 65% of re

SUBMITTER: Iheaturu CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12575867 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature