Assessing impact of a large-sized refugee camp on the local vegetation condition with remote sensing: a case study of Kakuma, Kenya

As a case study of impact assessment of a large-scaled refugee camp, NDVI analysis around the Kakuma Refugee Camp (KRC), located in the Turkana District, Kenya, is implemented by developing maximum value composite of NOAA/AVHRR. Firstly, the all Local Area Coverage (LAC) images available via NOAA website for the second ten days of May, the period of vegetation peak, in 1989, 1993 and 1999 are analyzed, corresponding to before, just after and a certain period after construction of KRC, which was set up in 1992. Although a clear NDVI reduction is seen from 1989 to 1999, the difference in precipitation seems to contribute significantly. Thus we analyzed additional images; the second 10 days of April 1999 and May 1998. The results indicate that large part of NDVI change from 1989 to 1999 is induced by rainfall change. However, near KRC, interesting NDVI reduction, which is worthy of more study, is seen also in the additional images