scholarly journals Assessing Land Use and Land Cover Changes in the Murchison Bay Catchment of Lake Victoria Basin in Uganda

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Kiggundu ◽  
Listowel Abugri Anaba ◽  
Noble Banadda ◽  
Joshua Wanyama ◽  
Isa Kabenge

The Murchison Bay catchment in the northern shoreline of Lake Victoria basin is a high valued ecosystem because of the numerous human-related activities it supports in Uganda. The catchment has undergone tremendous human-induced land use/cover changes, which have not been quantified. This study aimed at quantifying the land use/cover changes as well as the rate at which these changes occurred over the last three decades in the catchment. This was achieved using remote sensing techniques and Geographic Information System (GIS) to analyse and contextualize the changes. To that effect, images of Landsat satellites MSS, TM, ETM+ and OLI were interpreted using supervised image classification technique to determine the land use/land cover changes from 1984 to 2015. The obtained results indicated that the catchment has undergone huge land use and land cover transformations over the last three decades attributable to rapid population growth and urbanization. The prevailing changes in footprint between 1984 and 2015 were expansions of built–up land (20.58% to 49.59%) and open water bodies (not detected in 1984 to 1.74%), and decreases in the following sectors: agricultural lands (from 43.88% to 26.10%), forestland (from 23.78% to 17.49%), and wetlands (from 11.76% to 5.08%). The changes pose a threat to the environment and water quality of the Murchison Bay and consequently increases National Water and Sewerage Corporation water treatment costs. Therefore, there is the need to take critical and practical measures to regulate and police land use, water use rights and conserve the environment especially wetlands.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 2829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robinson Mugo ◽  
Rose Waswa ◽  
James W. Nyaga ◽  
Antony Ndubi ◽  
Emily C. Adams ◽  
...  

The Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) is a significant resource for five states within East Africa, which faces major land use land cover changes that threaten ecosystem integrity and ecosystem services derived from the basin’s resources. To assess land use land cover changes between 1985 and 2014, and subsequently determine the trends and drivers of these changes, we used a series of Landsat images and field data obtained from the LVB. Landsat image pre-processing and band combinations were done in ENVI 5.1. A supervised classification was applied on 118 Landsat scenes using the maximum likelihood classifier in ENVI 5.1. The overall accuracy of classified images was computed for the 2014 images using 124 reference data points collected through stratified random sampling. Computations of area under various land cover classes were calculated between the 1985 and 2014 images. We also correlated the area from natural vegetation classes to farmlands and settlements (urban areas) to explore relationships between land use land cover conversions among these classes. Based on our land cover classifications, we obtained overall accuracy of 71% and a moderate Kappa statistic of 0.56. Our results indicate that the LVB has undergone drastic changes in land use land cover, mainly driven by human activities that led to the conversion of forests, woodlands, grasslands, and wetlands to either farmlands or settlements. We conclude that information from this work is useful not only for basin-scale assessments and monitoring of land cover changes but also for targeting, prioritizing, and monitoring of small scale, community led efforts to restore degraded and fragmented areas in the basin. Such efforts could mitigate the loss of ecosystem services previously derived from large contiguous land covers which are no longer tenable to restore. We recommend adoption of a basin scale, operational, Earth observation-based, land use change monitoring framework. Such a framework can facilitate rapid and frequent assessments of gains and losses in specific land cover classes and thus focus strategic interventions in areas experiencing major losses, through mitigation and compensatory approaches.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-345
Author(s):  
Dancan Otieno Onyango ◽  
Christopher O. Ikporukpo ◽  
John O. Taiwo ◽  
Stephen B. Opiyo

The socio-economic and ecological value of Lake Victoria is threatened by significant regional development and urbanization. This study analyzed spatial-temporal land use/land cover changes in the Kenyan Lake Victoria basin from 1978–2018 using Landsat 3, 4-5 and 8 imagery, with a view to identifying the extent and potential impacts of urbanization on the basin. Supervised image classification was undertaken following the Maximum Likelihood algorithm to generate land use/land cover maps at ten-year intervals. Results indicate that the basin is characterized by six main land use/land cover classes namely, agricultural land, water bodies, grasslands and vegetation, bare land, forests and built-up areas. Further, the results indicate that the basin has experienced net increases in built-up areas (+97.56%), forests (+17.30%) and agricultural land (+3.54%) over the last 40 years. During the same period, it experienced net losses in grassland and vegetation (-37.36%), bare land (-9.28%) and water bodies (-2.19%). Generally, the changing landscapes in the basin are characterized by conversion of natural environments to built-up environments and driven by human activities, urban populations and public policy decisions. The study therefore recommends the establishment of a land use system that creates a balance between the ecological realm and sustainable development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-25
Author(s):  
Dancan O. Onyango ◽  
Christopher O. Ikporukpo ◽  
John O. Taiwo ◽  
Stephen B. Opiyo

Abstract Several urban centres of different sizes have developed over time, and continue to grow, within the basin of Lake Victoria. Uncontrolled urban development, especially along the lake shore, puts environmental pressure on Lake Victoria and its local ecosystem. This study sought to monitor the extent and impacts of urban development (as measured by population growth and built-up land use/land cover) in the Lake Victoria basin, Kenya, between 1978 and 2018. Remote sensing and GIS-based land use/land cover classification was conducted to extract change in built-up areas from Landsat 3, 4, 5 and 8 satellite imagery obtained for the month of January at intervals of ten years. Change in population distribution and density was analysed based on decadal census data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics between 1979 and 2019. A statistical regression model was then estimated to relate population growth to built-up area expansion. Results indicate that the basin’s built-up area has expanded by 97% between 1978 and 2018 while the population increased by 140% between 1979 and 2019. Urban development was attributed to the rapidly increasing population in the area as seen in a positive statistical correlation (R2=0.5744) between increase in built-up area and population growth. The resulting environmental pressure on the local ecosystem has been documented mainly in terms of degradation of lake water quality, eutrophication and aquatic biodiversity loss. The study recommends the enactment and implementation of appropriate eco-sensitive local legislation and policies for sustainable urban and rural land use planning in the area. This should aim to control and regulate urban expansion especially in the immediate shoreline areas of the lake and associated riparian zones.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 372
Author(s):  
John Peter Obubu ◽  
Seyoum Mengistou ◽  
Robinson Odong ◽  
Tadesse Fetahi ◽  
Tena Alamirew

Catchments for aquatic ecosystems connect to the water quality of those waterbodies. Land use land cover change activities in the catchments, therefore, play a significant role in determining the water quality of the waterbodies. Research on the relationship between land use and land cover changes and water quality has gained global prominence. Therefore, this study aimed at determining land use, land cover changes in the catchments of L. Kyoga basin, and assessing their connectedness to the lake’s water quality. The GIS software was used to determine eight major land use and land cover changes for 2000, 2010, and 2020. Meanwhile, water quality data was obtained through both secondary and primary sources. Spearman correlation statistical tool in SPSS was used to correlate the land use, land cover changes, and water quality changes over the two-decade study period. The results showed that different land use and land cover activities strongly correlated with particular water quality parameters. For example, agriculture correlated strongly with nutrients like TP, TN, and nitrates and turbidity, TSS, BOD, and temp. The correlation with nitrates was statistically significant at 0.01 confidence limit. The findings of this study agreed with what other authors had found in different parts of the world. The results show that to manage the water quality of L. Kyoga, management of land use, land cover activities in the catchment should be prioritized. Therefore, the results are helpful to decision and policy makers and relevant stakeholders responsible for water management.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Misbah Fida ◽  
Irshad Hussain ◽  
Wang Tao ◽  
Abdur Rashid ◽  
Syed Amir Ali Shah

Abstract. The objective of this research study was to quantify land use and land cover changes before and after the 2010 flood at District Charsadda, Pakistan. The land use and land cover changes were evaluated with the help of advanced geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing techniques (RST). Moreover, some remedial measures were taken to develop land use/land cover of the area to overcome future problems. Land use and land cover changes were measured by using satellite images. Two instances were compared, i.e. pre-flood and post-flood, to analyze the change in land use/land cover of District Charsadda within 5 Km along the Kabul River. Comparative analysis of pre and post-flood imageries shows drastic changes over the water body, built-up area, agriculture land, and bare land during flood instances. The study area is rural and agricultural land is dominant in the area. We evaluated the percentage of different land uses/land covers within our study area, as agricultural land was about 68.5 %, barren land was about 22.5 %, and the water body was 8.8 % before the flood. After inundation, the water body raised to 16.4 %, bare soil increased to 26.30 %, agriculture land degraded up to 57 %, and settlements (villages) along River Kabul were badly damaged and finished by this flood. Approximately, four villages of District Nowshera, six villages of District Peshawar, and twenty-seven villages of Charsadda District were badly damaged during the 2010 flood.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed Atif Bokhari ◽  
Zafeer Saqib ◽  
Amjad Ali ◽  
Arif Mahmud ◽  
Nadia Akhtar ◽  
...  

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