Abstract
Blantyre City has experienced a wide range of changes in land use and land cover (LULC). This study used Remote Sensing (RS) to detect and quantify LULC changes that occurred in the city throughout a twenty-year study period, using Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) images from 1999 and 2010 and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) images from 2019. A supervised classification method using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was used to classify and map LULC types. The kappa coefficient and the overall accuracy were used to ascertain the classification accuracy. Using the classified images, a postclassification comparison approach was used to detect LULC changes between 1999 and 2019. The study revealed that built-up land and agricultural land increased in their respective areas by 28.54 km2 (194.81%) and 35.80 km2 (27.16%) with corresponding annual change rates of 1.43 km·year−1 and 1.79 km·year−1. The area of bare land, forest land, herbaceous land, and waterbody, respectively, decreased by 0.05%, 90.52%, 71.67%, and 6.90%. The LULC changes in the study area were attributed to urbanization, population growth, social-economic growth, and climate change. The findings of this study provide information on the changes in LULC and driving factors, which Blantyre City authorities can utilize to develop sustainable development plans.
Highlights
IntroductionMost parts of countries in the world are currently experiencing wide-ranging changes in land use and land cover (LULC) [1,2,3]. ese LULC changes have mostly been associated with the interaction between humans and the environment [3,4,5]. e resulting negative impacts on ecosystems and human wellbeing, which include erosion, increased run-off, flooding, loss of water resources, degrading water quality, and other negative impacts, have brought these changes to the attention of the world [6,7,8].ere are many indicators for understanding the relation between humans and the environment, one of which is land cover change [6]. e timely and accurate understanding and monitoring of land use and land cover changes, their intensity, direction, causes, and consequences are critical for sustainable development planning; it is an essential goal in the field of land cover change science [6, 9, 10].Land cover and land use are two different terms that are frequently used interchangeably to describe land surface features [11, 12]
Artificial Neural Network (ANN) supervised classification was used to produce accurate land use and land cover (LULC) maps for 1999, 2010, and 2019, which were used in detecting the changes that have occurred using the postclassification comparison technique. e overall accuracy and kappa coefficient values obtained met the classification criteria. e results of the study revealed that there had been a significant change in LULC during the 20-year study period in the area
E obtained results showed that there was a decrease in the area of forest land, waterbody, bare land, and herbaceous land, while the area of built-up land and agricultural land increased between 1999 and 2019. e highest increase rate of built-up land, the highest decline rate of forest land, and the highest decrease in waterbody were all achieved in the first phase (1999–2010), signifying that this was the period of great changes. e annual rate of 6.58% achieved by built-up land between the years 2010 and 2019 was only slightly lower than that recorded in the preceding period, indicating that developments are still taking place
Summary
Most parts of countries in the world are currently experiencing wide-ranging changes in land use and land cover (LULC) [1,2,3]. ese LULC changes have mostly been associated with the interaction between humans and the environment [3,4,5]. e resulting negative impacts on ecosystems and human wellbeing, which include erosion, increased run-off, flooding, loss of water resources, degrading water quality, and other negative impacts, have brought these changes to the attention of the world [6,7,8].ere are many indicators for understanding the relation between humans and the environment, one of which is land cover change [6]. e timely and accurate understanding and monitoring of land use and land cover changes, their intensity, direction, causes, and consequences are critical for sustainable development planning; it is an essential goal in the field of land cover change science [6, 9, 10].Land cover and land use are two different terms that are frequently used interchangeably to describe land surface features [11, 12]. LULC change is a process that occurs as a result of human interaction with the physical environment, resulting in the modification and biophysical attribute change of the Earth’s terrestrial surface [8, 12], by either shifting to a new type of land use or intensifying use of the existing type [12, 15]. This process has negative impacts on the environment, which must be addressed if we are to achieve sustainable development [6, 9].
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