<![CDATA[Uncontrolled bauxite exploitation in the Rural Commune of Malapouyah (Guinea) exacerbates land degradation and disrupts local ecological balances. This study assesses the spatio-temporal variations in land use, vegetation, and land surface temperature (LST) between 2011 and 2024 using Landsat imagery and GIS-based spatial analyses. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) highlights a worsening of vegetation stress, with minimum values dropping from 0.039 in 2011 to 0.000 in 2024. Land-use analysis reveals notable fluctuations: vegetation cover decreased from 50.82% in 2011 to 30.29% in 2014 before rising again to 59.04% in 2024, while bare soils increased from 7.28% to 29.28% during the first period and then declined to 8.90% in 2024. Water bodies peaked at 19.10% in 2014 and stabilized around 9.78% in 2024. Urban areas decreased from 41.34% in 2011 to 21.33% in 2014 before stabilizing near 22%. The average land surface temperature progressively declined from 45.96 °C in 2011 to 37.73 °C in 2024, with a maximum of 46.98 °C recorded in 2014. These findings reveal severe but evolving environmental impacts driven by mining and other anthropogenic pressures, while also highlighting partial ecosystem resilience. The study confirms the relevance of remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) as reliable, integrated, and cost-effective tools for monitoring land degradation and supporting sustainable land-use planning and natural resource management.]]>
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