Assessment of Drought Characteristics on Vegetation Health in The Aswa River Catchment in North-Eastern Uganda.

Abstract

There has been occurrence of frequent droughts within and around the Aswa catchment area which are impeding the sustainable management of water resources in the North Eastern part of Uganda. A spatial and temporal variability of the Standard precipitation index(SPI) and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index were used to examine the dynamics of drought and vegetation cover in the Aswa catchment area. At 95% confidence level, results showed a significant increasing trend for the Agricultural, Hydrological and Socio economic droughts in Gulu area (0.004*, 0.000*and 0.000*); No significant increasing trend in Agricultural and Hydrological droughts (0.818 and 0.894) and no significant decreasing trend in the socio economic drought in Kitgum (-0.894); No significant decreasing trend in Agricultural and Hydrological droughts (-0.795 and -0.333) and a significant decreasing trend in socio economic drought for Kotido regions (-0.000*); and no significant decreasing trend in Agricultural, Hydrological and Socio economic droughts (-0.740, -0.363 and -0.318) from 2000 to 2019.