Beyond deforestation metrics: agricultural landscape archetypes derived from earth observation reveal forest and savannah frontier dynamics in the Republic of Congo

Agricultural expansion is reshaping the forest and savannah landscapes of the Congo Basin, yet the spatial organization of these transformations remains poorly documented. This study derives agricultural landscape archetypes for the Republic of Congo based on the multi-scale integration of landscape dynamics, composition, and configuration metrics. The resulting archetypes reflect socio-economic patterns and their implications for landscape ecology and sustainability.,The methodology focuses on the calculation and classification of landscape metrics derived from harmonized national land-use/Land-cover maps produced by experts. These maps combine global datasets (TMF, GLAD, and ESA CCI-LC) for the period 2000-2020 at five-year intervals. Landscape metrics derived from these data were computed at complementary spatial scales (a window of 2 km for dynamic metrics and a window of 12 km for composition and configuration metrics) and submitted to unsupervised k-means clustering.,Seven agricultural landscape archetypes were identified, reflecting contrasting territorial regimes of agricultural expansion across forest-dominated landscapes, forest-savannah mosaics, and savannah-dominated systems. Variations in change intensity among archetypes reflect not only ecological gradients but also the differentiated strategies of agricultural actors, ranging from smallholder subsistence farming to capitalized commercial systems. The spatial distribution of these archetypes follows known socio-economic gradients and reveals a frontier geography that national deforestation statistics cannot capture. The proposed archetypes provide a spatially explicit framework for identifying vulnerable areas, interpreting agricultural frontier dynamics, and supporting spatially differentiated landscape planning throughout the Republic of Congo. This approach is transferable to other regions where forest and savannah ecosystems coexist under agricultural pressure.