Spatial and Temporal Change of Land Cover in Protected Areas in Malawi: Implications for Conservation Management

Daniel Kpienbaareh,Evans Sumabe Batung,Isaac Luginaah

doi:10.3390/geographies2010006

Abstract

Protected areas (PAs) transform over time due to natural and anthropogenic processes, resulting in the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. As current and projected climatic trends are poised to pressurize the sustainability of PAs, analyses of the existing perturbations are crucial for providing valuable insights that will facilitate conservation management. In this study, land cover change, landscape characteristics, and spatiotemporal patterns of the vegetation intensity in the Kasungu National Park (area = 2445.10 km2) in Malawi were assessed using Landsat data (1997, 2008 and 2018) in a Fuzzy K-Means unsupervised classification. The findings reveal that a 21.12% forest cover loss occurred from 1997 to 2018: an average annual loss of 1.09%. Transition analyses of the land cover changes revealed that forest to shrubs conversion was the main form of land cover transition, while conversions from shrubs (3.51%) and bare land (3.48%) to forest over the two decades were comparatively lower, signifying a very low rate of forest regeneration. The remaining forest cover in the park was aggregated in a small land area with dissimilar landscape characteristics. Vegetation intensity and vigor were lower mainly in the eastern part of the park in 2018. The findings have implications for conservation management in the context of climate change and the growing demand for ecosystem services in forest-dependent localities.

Highlights

Landscapes in protected areas such as National Parks and watersheds change because of natural disturbances, ecological processes, and anthropogenic activities [1]
Intricate interdependence and interactions between change patterns and the landscape structure over time create complex dynamic and unpredictable mosaics [12] that impact the integrity of ecosystems and ecosystem services—the benefits that humans derive from healthy ecosystems [13]
Even though the analysis shows an overall decrease in forest cover, the decreasing Shannon’s Diversity Index (SHDI) indicates that the remaining forest cover on the landscape has become more diverse, a sign of disproportionate loss in forest cover over the landscape

Summary

Introduction

Landscapes in protected areas such as National Parks and watersheds change because of natural disturbances, ecological processes, and anthropogenic activities [1]. It is necessary to continually monitor and map the land cover dynamics within and around protected areas to inform forest resource managers of the most appropriate regulatory measures to adopt for the conservation of biodiversity and to increase precision in the utility of such measures [5]. Making such management decisions is relevant because, in addition to being an essential source of livelihood and income for local communities [6], protected areas serve as carbon sinks that help to mitigate climate change [7]. Land-use practices in and around conservation areas may influence change patterns by reducing the amount of vegetation cover and their contiguity, which creates complex unnatural shapes or uniform natural patterns that may affect the ability of biodiversity to thrive [14,15]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion