ASSESSMENT OF AGRO-ECOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE KASSENA-NANKANA DISTRICT(S) AS A RESULT OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE TONO RESERVOIR USING MULTI-TEMPORAL IMAGERY

Abstract

Land Use / Land Cover (LULC) changes has been progressive across the globe, causing the alteration and shifting of various land use/land cover features. These changes are caused by natural factors such as extreme environmental conditions, earthquakes, volcanic eruption, flooding and also human factors including agricultural expansion, urban and industrial development of infrastructure. The study combined spatial time series satellite data and field observations to observe the changes which have occurred in the land cover mapping between 1999 and 2007. Land cover features were categorized into Vegetation, Crop/farmland, Settlement, Bare land and Water body. Satellite imagery for the intervening period was used to assess the changes in LULC. LULC classes of Settlements and Bare land recorded an increase of 3.21%, and 33.1%, whereas Vegetation, Crop/farmland and Water decreased by 1.8%, 33% and 2.1% respectively. It was observed that the mean conversional change between 1999 and 2007 was 2148.55 hectares. A total land size of 9297.79 hectares did not undergo any change; conversion into Water body was 417.62 hectares, 7688.56 hectares was changed into Crop/farmland, 1137.76 hectares into Settlement, 337.17 hectares into Bare land, and 1161.65 hectares into Vegetation. It was also observed that the sharp increase in Settlement is as a result of rapid population growth and expansion of infrastructure.