Year-end Sale % OFF 
Abstract
Understanding and identifying the spatial-temporal changes in the natural environment is crucial for monitoring and evaluating conservation efforts, as well as understanding the impact of human activities on natural resources, informing responsible land management, and promoting better decision-making. Conservation areas are often under pressure from expanding farming and related industry, invasive alien vegetation, and an ever-increasing human settlement footprint. This study focuses on detecting changes to the Prince Alfred Hamlet commonage, near Ceres in the Cape Floral Kingdom. It was chosen for its high conservation value and significance as a critical water source area. The study area includes a fast-growing human settlement footprint in a highly productive farming landscape. There are conflicting development needs as well as risks to agricultural production, and both of these threaten the integrity of the ecosystems which supply underlying services to both demands on the land. Using a multi-disciplinary approach and high-resolution satellite imagery, land use and land cover changes can be detected and classified, and the results used to support the conservation of biodiversity and wildlife, and protect our natural resources. The aim of this research is to study the efficacy of using remote sensing and GIS techniques to detect changes to critical conservation areas where disturbances can be understood, and therefore better managed and mitigated before these areas are degraded beyond repair.
Highlights
This paper is the result of a joint pilot study between the nongovernment conservation organisation the World Wide Fund for Nature in South Africa (WWF-SA) and the government Department of Rural Development and Land Reform of South Africa, office of the Chief Directorate: National Geospatial Information (CD: NGI)
One of the goals cited by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform is sustainable land and agrarian transformation, seeking to increase agricultural production through the optimal and sustainable use of natural resources and appropriate technologies to ensure food security, dignity and improved rural livelihoods
The results indicate that there is significant potential in using WorldView-2 imagery for land cover classification, even though more work is needed refining the classification in this study
Summary
This paper is the result of a joint pilot study between the nongovernment conservation organisation the World Wide Fund for Nature in South Africa (WWF-SA) and the government Department of Rural Development and Land Reform of South Africa, office of the Chief Directorate: National Geospatial Information (CD: NGI). A small site with high biodiversity value and many complex socio-political pressures threatening its natural infrastructure was chosen to test the methodology. This pilot study is focused on the commonage area of the Prince Alfred Hamlet village, approximately 1500 hectares in the Breede Valley of the Western Cape Province of South Africa. For proper management of these resources, in order to preserve them for the wellbeing of all into the future, it’s important to understand how they function and what they provide as ecological services which
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
