Abstract
This paper discusses the less known spatial and temporal changes that have occurred over a period of 30 years in land use and land cover and their impacts on terrestrial ecosystem services of Selous – Niassa TFCA. Objectives of the study were to analyze the spatial and temporal changes of land use/cover, estimate amount of trees loss, and analyse wood balance. The study employs field survey, remote sensing and GIS techniques were employed to assess spatio-temporal dynamic of land use/cover. The study has revealed that there has been a significant land use and vegetation cover transformation from one class to another. For the period between 1986 and 1997 the area under closed woodland, open woodland, grassland, built up area, and cultivated land increases by 1.14%, 0.62%, 2.92%, 0.06%, and 2.17% respectively. Likewise, bushland and water decreased by 6.86 and 0.04 respectively. For the period between 1997 and 2005, the closed woodland, open woodland, and bushland declined by 9.65%, 8.41%, and 5.23% respectively. For the same period of time, grassland, water, built up area, and cultivated land increased by 5.3%, 0.01%, 0.29%, and 17.7% respectively. Moreover, for the period between 2005 and 2016, the closed woodland, open woodland, grassland, water, and cultivated area declined by 0.91%, 4.65%, 8.25%, 0.02% and 1.53% respectively. For the same period of time, bushland and built up area increased by 15.27% and 0.08% respectively. Also, the results revealed gain of trees regenerated in the study area during the period 1986 – 1997 with an average of 3.5 million trees per year. Besides, there was rampant conversion of woodland in the study area during the period 1997 – 2016 with average loss of 27 million trees per year. Wood supply in the study area for the year 2016 is at least 25 times the average demand per year per capita. Conversely, the trend of wood supply from 1986 to 2016 shows dramatic deforestation of the area which implies tragedy of commons and is the public property where there are no control policies or rules. The study recommends an emergence of reviewing management and conservation strategies is unexceptional if we need sustainability of Selous-Niassa TFCA.
Highlights
1.1 Background informationLand use and land cover change (LULCC) calls for special attention since humans have been modifying land to obtain food and other essentials for thousands of years, but current rates, extents and intensities of LULC changes are far greater than ever in history [1], driving unprecedented changes in ecosystems and environmental processes at local, regional and global scales
Many transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) are unexceptional from these challenges as they consists of various levels of protected areas (PAs) from strict protection to weak protection which shape level of LULCC
2.2.1 Data analysis: To analyse spatial and temporal changes in land use and land cover in easternSelous – Niassa TFCA from 1986–2016.The land cover change detection analysis was conducted based on the following steps: (i)Satellite image selection and acquisition: Appropriate satellite imagery acquisition was done with highly consideration of cloud cover, the seasonality and phonological effects [14]
Summary
1.1 Background informationLand use and land cover change (LULCC) calls for special attention since humans have been modifying land to obtain food and other essentials for thousands of years, but current rates, extents and intensities of LULC changes are far greater than ever in history [1], driving unprecedented changes in ecosystems and environmental processes at local, regional and global scales. Industrial activities and developments, the socalled industrialization, has encouraged the concentration of population within urban areas This is called urbanization, which includes depopulation of rural regions along with intensive farming in the most productive lands and the abandonment of marginal lands [2]. These conversions and their consequences are obvious around the world and it has been becoming a disaster around the metropolitan areas in developing countries. These changes encompass the greatest environmental concerns of human populations today, including climate change, biodiversity loss and the pollution of water, soils and air. Monitoring and mediating the negative consequences of LULCC while sustaining the production of essential resources has become a major priority of researchers and policymakers around the world
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