Abstract
This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of plantation agriculture on land use, land cover change in the Nguti sub division and to investigate resident’s perception about the effects of land use, land cover change on local climatic variability. Satellite maps from Landsat multispectral images were processed using Arc GIS 8 to assess land cover change overtime. Structured questionnaires, focused group discussions and interviews were used to gather relevant data on resident’s perception on the impacts of land use, land cover changes on climate variability. The statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 19 was used to analyze respondent’s perception on the impacts of land use land cover change on local climatic variability. Results indicate a slow change in dense forest of -2% between 2006 and 2012 when no large scale agricultural practice existed, as opposed to a rapid change of -14% between 2012 and 2015 when such practice existed, indicating a massive loss of forest cover. Plantations increase slightly between 2006 and 2012 (51 ha) but witnessed a massive increase (210ha) between 2012 and 2015. Residents of Nguti sub division attest that there has been variability in the climatic condition in the area experience in the form of increase temperature, reduction in rainfall and changes in seasonality. Authors recommended a need for a participatory land use planning to delimit and allocate land into various land uses and to avoid future land use conflicts. Key words: Dense forest, palm plantation, settlements, respondents, variability, livelihood change.
Highlights
This view is based on two ideas: first, that as more land is used in agricultural production, less land remains for wildlife or other environmental purpose which can cause climate variability and change both locally and globally
Extensive review of secondary data was carried out. This was done on published reference books, journals, scholarly articles, internet, in order to have a broader knowledge on the study and inform the theoretical and empirical literature on large-scale plantation agriculture and its impacts on forest cover change and climate variability
Dense forest decreased slightly between 2006 and 2012 and further witness a significant decrease (5,225 ha) between 2012 and 2015. This change may be due to a change in land use from forest to large-scale plantation between 2012 and 2015
Summary
Plantations are essential for human survival and economic wellbeing as well as for the ecosystem structure, functioning and stability (Bargali et al, 1993). This view is based on two ideas: first, that as more land is used in agricultural production, less land remains for wildlife or other environmental purpose which can cause climate variability and change both locally and globally. Human modification of the land surface through the conversion of natural land into other land uses like agriculture has affected regional and global climate processes by changing the fluxes of mass and energy between an ecosystem and the atmosphere (Dai, 2014). This is because Land use/cover forms the lower boundary of the atmosphere and is a major component of climate variability. The project zone outlined for plantation agriculture is bounded by four protected areas: the Korup National Park, the Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary, the Bakossi Forest Reserve and the Nguti Council forest (Figure 1)
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