Tropentag, September 16 - 18, 2026, Göttingen "Towards multi-functional agro-ecosystems promoting climate-resilient futures"

Spatial typology of agricultural-driven landscape change in the Republic of the Congo

CIRAD, Montpellier, Environment and Society, France

Abstract

Agricultural expansion is reshaping forest and savannah landscapes across the Congo Basin, yet its spatial patterns remain insufficiently characterised. In this study, we characterise and classify the diversity of combinations of landscape dynamics and structure in order to derive agricultural landscape archetypes in the Republic of the Congo that reflect known socio-economic dynamics and their consequences for landscape ecology and sustainability.
The resulting classification is intended as a relevant tool for identifying and mapping territorial dynamics and for highlighting their ecological consequences. This study is based on a harmonised national land-cover and land-use database produced for five reference years (from 2000 to 2020). We integrated global datasets (TMF, GLAD, and ESA CCI-LC) with expert photo-interpretation in order to define nine land-cover and land-use classes and to calculate landscape metrics describing composition, landscape configuration, and dynamics at complementary spatial scales. Using unsupervised k-means clustering, we identified seven landscape archetypes reflecting contrasting territorial regimes of agricultural expansion: forest-dominated landscapes, forest savannah mosaics, and savannah-dominated systems, with varying levels of change intensity.
The results show that agricultural expansion unfolds through spatially differentiated configurations associated with varying levels and rates of fragmentation, deforestation, de-savannisation, cropland dominance. The spatial distribution of archetypes also makes it possible to formulate hypotheses regarding the known socio-economic dynamics that have shaped the territory. By linking land-use trajectories, landscape structure, and territorial differentiation, the proposed typology provides a spatially explicit framework for identifying vulnerable areas, interpreting agricultural frontier dynamics, and supporting context-specific land-use planning in the Republic of the Congo.

Keywords: Agricultural expansion, landscape change, spatial typology

Contact Address: Jacob Koffi, CIRAD, Montpellier, France (agricultural research for the sustainable development of tropical and Mediterranean regions), Environment and society, 15 allée adaù de la halle, 34080 Montpellier, France, e-mail: kossi_jacob.kofficirad.fr