Assessing the Impact of Wildlife on Vegetation Cover Change, Northeast Namibia, Based on MODIS Satellite Imagery (2002-2021).

Human-wildlife conflict in the Zambezi region of northeast Namibia is well documented, but the impact of wildlife (e.g., elephants) on vegetation cover change has not been adequately addressed. Here, we assessed human-wildlife interaction and impact on vegetation cover change. We analyzed the 250 m MODIS and ERA5 0.25° × 0.25° drone and GPS-collar datasets. We used Time Series Segmented Residual Trends (TSS-RESTREND), Mann-Kendall Test Statistics, Sen's Slope, ensemble, Kernel Density Estimation (KDE), and Pearson correlation methods. Our results revealed (i) widespread vegetation browning along elephant migration routes and within National Parks, (ii) Pearson correlation (p-value = 5.5 × 10-8) showed that vegetation browning areas do not sustain high population densities of elephants. Currently, the Zambezi has about 12,008 elephants while these numbers were 1468, 7950, and 5242 in 1989, 1994, and 2005, respectively, (iii) settlements and artificial barriers have a negative impact on wildlife movement, driving vegetation browning, and (iv) vegetation greening was found mostly within communal areas where intensive farming and cattle grazing is a common practice. The findings of this study will serve as a reference for policy and decision makers. Future studies should consider integrating higher resolution multi-platform datasets for detailed micro analysis and mapping of vegetation cover change.

Could China's journey of malaria elimination extend to Africa?

World Health Organization (WHO) certified China malaria-free on June 30, 2021, which brightens the goal of global malaria elimination efforts. China contributed its unique innovations to the global community: Artemisinin, discovered by Tu Youyou, has saved millions of lives globally; the "1-3-7" norm developed in 2012, has been adapted in the local contexts of countries in the Southeast Asia and Africa. How to the targets of Global Technical Strategy for Malaria (GTS) 2016-2030. By looking into the malaria control phase, towards elimination phase from 1960 to 2011 in sub-Saharan Africa and China, we found that the gap in malaria burden will widen unless the interventions in Africa are enhanced. It is imperative to identify the key China-Africa cooperation areas on malaria control and elimination, so that synergized efforts could be pooled together to help African countries achieve the elimination goal. The practices from China malaria control and elimination efforts could be leveraged to fast-track malaria elimination efforts in Africa, which makes it possible that the China's journey of malaria elimination extends to Africa.