Protecting the patches from the footprints: examining the land use factors associated with forest patches in Atewa range forest reserve

Williams Agyemang-Duah,Dina Adei,Joseph Oduro Appiah

doi:10.1186/s12862-021-01758-0

Abstract

BackgroundLand use practices are noted to contribute to changes in forest landscape composition. However, whereas studies have reported the intermix of land uses and forest patches and measured the direct impacts of land uses on forest patches, little is known regarding the spatially-explicit association between the most recent forest patches and land use footprints in protected areas. In this study, we use methods from GIS, remote sensing, and statistics to model the spatial relationship between footprints of land uses and patches of forest cover by drawing on geospatial data from the Atewa range forest reserve (ARFR).ResultsThe study finds that forest patches that are within 1 km from agricultural land use footprints (AOR = 86.625, C.I. 18.057–415.563, P = 0.000), logging sites (AOR = 55.909, C.I. 12.032–259.804, P = 0.000), mine sites (53.571, C.I. 11.287–254.255, P = 0.000), access roads (AOR = 24.169, C.I. 5.544–105.357, P = 0.000), and human settlement footprints (AOR = 7.172, C.I. 1.969–26.128, P = 0.003) are significantly more likely to be less than the mean patch area (375,431.87 m2 = 37.54 ha) of forest cover. A ROC statistic of 0.995 achieved in this study suggests a high predictive power of the proposed model.ConclusionThe study findings suggest that to ensure sustainable land uses and ecological integrity, there is a need for land use policies and land management strategies that ensure responsible livelihood activities as well as further restrictions on logging and mining in the globally significant biodiversity area.

Highlights

Land use practices are noted to contribute to changes in forest landscape composition
Our study aimed at modelling land uses and the area of patches that are less than the mean patch area of the forest using remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) data from the Atewa Range Forest Reserve
The study finds that the forest patches are within 1 km from the agricultural land are significantly more likely to be less than the mean patch area of forest cover

Summary

Introduction

Land use practices are noted to contribute to changes in forest landscape composition. Indiscriminate land use in forest areas is likely to accelerate forest cover loss, forest patch fragmentation, loss of ecosystem services, and land degradation [1,2,3,4]. From a broader perspective, these land use impacts on forest resources are indirectly connected to the malfunctioning of the forest ecosystem and contribute to global environmental and climate change [5, 6]. Recent studies have identified several anthropogenic land uses that contribute to forest loss, forest. The rush for gold and other mineral resources by local communities and multinational corporations has made mining activities a major contributor to the recent forest cover loss and fragmentation [20,21,22,23,24]. The land use types and their legacies in different locations are likely to be influenced by local, national and international dimensions and it would be necessary to study land use legacies through the lens of socio-economic, spatial, and environmental conditions in many locations

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion