Agricultural expansion (that is, the conversion of forest land to large scale cultivated area), and
wood exploitation have been identified as the most dominant causes of deforestation in Southern
Darfur State. This is due to rapid increase in human population since the drought of 1985, as the
result of natural increase and immigration from North Darfur and Chad (Fuller, 1985). For
instance, South Darfur State is recorded to have population growth rate of (4.15 %) per year, the
estimated number for year 2008 is about 4.093,000 persons (Darfur Relief and Documentation
Centre, 2010).
The analysis of vegetation is one of the most fundamental applications of remotely sensed
satellite imagery (Lawrence and Ripple, 1999). Monitoring change in vegetation between two
time periods can assess the vegetation growth and regrowth following a cataclysmic event, or
quantify forest loss caused by deforestation and timber harvesting (Lawrence and Ripple, 1999).
Classifying these types of changes can be effectively performed using Change Vector Analysis.
The main aim of this paper is to assess the dynamic of the change of the natural vegetation cover
during the period 1972- 2008 in Edd Al Furssan locality by applying Change Vector Analysis
(CVA) technique.