The impact of land use and land cover changes on socioeconomic factors and livelihood in the Atwima Nwabiagya district of the Ashanti region, Ghana

Abstract

Land use and land cover change (LULCC) is a general term for the human modification of Earth's terrestrial surface. These modifications come by direct and indirect activities of human actions when securing essential resources. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze these land changes for the best management of natural resources and to ensure better livelihood of the inhabitants.The influx of population from the Kumasi metropolis and peripheral areas coupled with urbanization is causing rapid changes to LULC in the Atwima Nwabiagya District. This has put pressure on the land cover especially in the forest cover areas and has affected the socioeconomic activities in the district. In view of this problem, this research sought to map and analyze the spatio-temporal LULCC patterns using multi-temporal satellite images from 1986-2019 and to identify the socioeconomic factors and their impact of LULC on the study area. Seven LULC classes were identified including; bare land, closed forest, cropland, open forest, savannah, settlement, and water. The results showed that during the period under review (1986-2019) there have been losses of 4178.5 hectares (7%) in closed and open forest and bare land whilst crop land and settlement have seen an increase of 21685.3 hectares (37%). In all, settlement establishment as a result of population increase, commercial activities, and porous land tenure system was identified as the main factors for LULCC in the Atwima Nwabiagya District.