Impacts of urban forestry on reducing heat islands in the communes of Golfe 5 and 7, Lomé (Togo)

This study was conducted in the communes of Golfe 5 and 7, aims to contribute to a better understanding of the role of urban forestry in reducing heat islands in urban areas. It involved: (i) mapping the spatial distributions of land surface temperature variations and the distributions of vegetation cover and building areas in the communes of Golfe 5 and 7, and (ii) identify local people's perceptions of heat islands. To achieve these objectives, a Landsat satellite image and a land surface temperature image coupled with field data were used. The analysis of land use revealed a predominance of building areas/bare ground (46.60% in Golfe 7 and 67.74% in Golfe 5) and croplands/fallow land (47% in Golfe 7 and 28.18% in Golfe 5) in the two communes with an uneven spatial distribution of the heat island (HI). The variation of the heat island according to land-use units showed that the hottest areas (UHI:[0.1, 0.2]) were characterized by a dominance of building areas/bare ground and croplands/fallow land. The areas of dense forests/plantations, savannahs and water areas have relatively low and very low temperatures (UHI:[-0.1, 0]; ≤-0.1). The hottest areas was more represented in the Golfe 5 commune than Golfe 7. Surveys of 141 people in the communes of Golfe 5 and 7 showed that the majority perceived the heat to be more intense at midday than at night.