Reference Land Cover Change in Comoe-Mole 2000-2015 (vector) - version 1, June 2018

This metadata refers to the Land Cover Change vector data generated over Comoe-Mole (Africa) in the framework of the Copernicus Global Land Hot Spot Mapping (C-GL-HSM) contract under the coordination of JRC.
This area of interest is either mapped with the generic 8 classes dichotomus legend (WAF_05_lcc_a).

The mapped area of interest (AOI) represents a Key Landscape for Conservation area (KLC). The KLC has a total size of 4 million ha (40,000 km²) and is located in the northern part of the countries of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. The Comoe National Park with a size of 1,149,150 ha (11,491.5 km²) has been designated in 1968 and recognized as UNESCO World heritage site in 1983. The Mole National Park has an area of 484,040 ha (4,840.4 km²) and has been established in 1971. The parks are within the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic (only Comoe) and west Sudanian savanna eco-region. The overall climate is characterized by a rainy season from March until October and a dry season from November to February. The elevation ranges from 125 m to 587 m within both National Parks.
The Comoe Park shows a steep climatic north-south gradient, allowing the park to harbor a multitude of habitats with a remarkable diversity of life. It is also the largest protected area in west Africa.
The Mole park is an important study area for scientists because of the removal of the human population from within the park allowing for some long-term studies, in particular, of relatively undisturbed sites compared to similar areas of densely populated equatorial west Africa.

Reference time: 2000 - 2015