Following more than 20 years of civil unrest, environmental information for Southern Somalia is scarce while there is clear evidence that the war economy fuelled by the conflict is rapidly depleting the country’s natural resources, especially the woody biomass. Wood charcoal production is one of the most relevant businesses supporting war regimes such as the extreme Islamist group Al Shabaab, which has ruled in Southern Somalia from 2006 to 2012 and is still occupying large areas. In this study, we first used Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery of early 2011 and early 2013 for developing a semi-automatic mapping method of charcoal production sites as a proxy of tree loss over a 6000 km2 area along the Juba River in Southern Somalia. The user’s accuracy of semi-automatic charcoal production site detection varied between 81.7% for 2011 and 87.3% for 2013, while the producer’s accuracy was 68.2% and 65.5% respectively and, as compared to visual interpretation, reduced significantly the required time. The analysis of the changes between the two dates led to an average tree loss estimation of 3.3%, corresponding to 520,520 trees over the 2 years period. The results help to better understand the dimension and impact of charcoal production in Southern Somalia and are a first step towards the development of a charcoal production monitoring system.

Ka dib markii wax ka badan 20 sano ay xasilloonni darro rayid jirtey, macluumaad deegaaneedka ee Koonfur Soomaaliya waa yar yahay halka markhati cad oo ah in dhaqaalaha dagaalka uu sii shiday colaadda oo degdeg u ciribtiraya khayraadka dabiiciga ah ee dalka, gaar ahaan geeda la shito. Geedaha dhuxusha laga soo saaro waa mid ka mid ah ganacsiyada ugu xoogan ee taageeraya dagaal oogeyaasha sida kooxda Islaamiga xagjirka Al Shabaab, taasoo xukumaysay Koonfurta Soomaaliya laga soo bilaabo 2006 ilaa 2012 oo welina ku dambaysa qaybo ballaaran. Daraasaddan, markii ugu horeysay ayaa loo isticmaalay masawirro dayax-gacmeed oo si heer sare u bayaansan horaantii sanadkii 2011 iyo horraantii 2013 si loo soosaaro hannaan khariidayn kalabar-automaatik ah ee goobo dhuxul soosaar si tusaale muuqda u ah geedo baabi’in gaartey aag deegaan oo 6000 km2 ka badan oo ku yaal hareeraha Webiga Juba gudaha koonfur Soomaaliya. Saxnimada isticmaalaha hab kalabar-automaatik ah ee baaris goob dhuxul soosaar waxay kala duwanaadey qadar u dhaxaysa 81,7% sanadkii 2011 iyo 87,3% sanadkii 2013, halka saxnimada soo saarahu ahayd 68,2% iyo 65.5% midkiiba, marka la barbadhigay tarjumo muuqaal, oo waqtigii loo baahnaa si weyn u yaraysay. Falanqaynta isbeddellada u dhexeeya labada taariikh waxay noqotay in qiyaasta khasaare geedo uu celcelis ahaan yahay 3.3%, oo u dhigmaysa 520.520 oo geed muddo 2 sano ah. Natiijooyinku waxay caawinayaan in si fiican loo fahmo xaddiga iyo saamaynta dhuxul soo saarku gaarsiisanyahay gudaha Koonfur Soomaaliya waana tallaabadii ugu horeysay oo loo qaado dhinaca horumarinta habka kormeerka iyo la socoda dhuxul soo saarista.

We are pleased to share Issue 4 of our quarterly newsletter “SWALIM Update” for the period November 2013 – January 2014. The newsletter provides updates on SWALIM water and land information management activities such as: SWALIM Early Warning Information Saves Lives; Building Resilient Communities through Disaster Risk Reduction and Early Warning; SWALIM Completes Survey of Strategic Emergency Boreholes in Northern Somalia; Fostering Accountability through Cash Based Intervention Remote Monitoring; SWALIM supports Somaliland Ministry of Agriculture to survey agricultural areas among others. We hope you will enjoy this edition. You feedback will be highly appreciated.

Following more than 20 years of civil unrest, environmental information for Southern Somalia is scarce while there is clear evidence that the war economy fueled by the conflict is rapidly depleting the country’s natural resources and especially the woody biomass. Wood charcoal production is one of the most relevant businesses supporting war regimes such as the extreme Islamist group Al Shabaab, which has ruled in Southern Somalia from 2006 to 2012 and is still occupying large areas. In this study we first used Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery of February 2013 for developing a semi-automatic mapping method of charcoal production sites as a proxy of tree loss over a 754 km2 woody area along the Juba river in Southern Somalia. The accuracy of semiautomatic charcoal production site detection varied between 80 and 95% as compared to visual interpretation and reduced significantly the subjectivity and the required time. The analysis was then applied to previous years (2011-2012) for a 52.6 km2 subset of the study area, and led to a tree loss estimation of 8.63%, corresponding to 15,434 trees over the 3 years period. The results are crucial for better understanding the dimension and impact of charcoal production in Southern Somalia and are a first step towards the development of a charcoal production monitoring system.

Somalia is situated in northeastern Africa and covers an area of 637 660 km2. It has the longest coastline in Africa, being bordered by the Gulf of Aden to the north and the Indian Ocean to the east. The country is bordered by Kenya in the south, Ethiopia in the west and by Djibouti in the north-west. The country can be divided in five distinct physio-geographic zones differentiated by topography:

We are pleased to share Issue 3 of our quarterly newsletter “SWALIM Update”. The newsletter provides updates on SWALIM water and land information management activities such as: Completion of the Preliminary Estimation of Land Cover in Northern Somalia, training on Disaster Risk Reduction and Early Warning, how Geo-spatial Data and Technology ins being used in Natural Resources Management in Somalia, training in River Gauge Reading among others. We hope you will enjoy this edition. Your feedback will be highly appreciated.

Following more than 20 years of civil unrest, environmental information for Southern Somalia is scarce while there is clear evidence that the war economy fueled by the conflict is rapidly depleting the country's natural resources and especially the woody biomass. Wood charcoal production is one of the most relevant businesses supporting war regimes such as the extreme Islamist group Al-Shabaab, which has ruled in Southern Somalia from 2006 to 2012 and is still occupying large areas. In this study, we map and quantify the tree loss suffered by the region due to the rapid increase in illegal charcoal production and export over recent years. Very high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery is used to visually count charcoal production sites as a proxy of tree loss in two sample areas within the lower Juba region of Southern Somalia. The image interpretation allows mapping the charcoal production sites as well as estimating tree loss rates above 7% over 5 years. The results are crucial for understanding the exact dimension and effects of the loss of woody biomass and for planning conservation and recovery interventions in the concerned area.

We are pleased to share Issue 2 of our quarterly newsletter “SWALIM Update” for 2013. The newsletter provides updates on SWALIM water and land information management activities such as: Monitoring and evaluation using remote sensing, the source of the Kismayo charcoal, assessment of the Gu 2013 Rainfall performance, capacity building activities that have taken place in the past 3 months among others. We hope you will enjoy this edition. You feedback will be highly appreciated.

The newsletter provides updates on SWALIM water and land information management activities such as flood and drought early warning systems, hydro meteorological monitoring, status of the Somali water sources, land degradation, remote sensing monitoring, and water and land baseline and thematic studies. You will also be updated on the capacity development activities, particularly the training courses from which you can benefit. The training courses are open to all Somali stakeholders, especially women. We hope you will enjoy this first edition of 2013 and those that will follow. You feedback will be highly appreciated and will help us improve future editions

The Juba and Shabelle rivers are the only perennial streams in Somalia. They originate in Ethiopia, where over 90 percent of the stream flow is generated. The two river basins cover an area 174,600 km2 within Somalia. Basic monitoring of the two rivers and their basins has been ongoing in the previous SWALIM projects, laying a good foundation for more developed, continuous river monitoring and data processing (automatic weather stations, continuous discharge measurements, sediment and water quality monitoring together with pilot land degradation monitoring systems). The Juba and Shabelle basins are also called the ‘breadbasket’ of Somalia: It is the centre of agricultural and livestock production and home to the majority of the Somali population.