Increase In Built-up Research Articles

Multi-decade land cover/land use dynamics and future predictions for Zambia: 2000–2030

Human LULCC is the many driver of environmental changes. Accurate and up-to-date current and predicted information on LULCC is important in land use planning and natural resource management; however, in Zambia, detailed information on LULCC is insufficient. Therefore, this study assessed the dynamics of LULC change (2000–2020) and future projections (2020–2030) for Zambia. The ESA CCI land cover maps, which have been developed from Sentinel-2 images were used in this study. This dataset has a grid spatial resolution of 300 m for the 2000, 2010 and 2020. The 31 ESA CCI Classification were reclassified into ten (10) local Classifications using the r.class module in QGIS 2.18.14. The 2000 and 2010 LULC maps were used to simulate the 2020 LULC scenario using Artificial Neural Network (Multi-layer Perception) algorithms in Modules for Land Use Change Evaluation (MOLUSCE) plugin in QGIS 2.18.14. The 2010 and 2020 maps were used to predict the 2030 LULC classes. The reference 2020 and predicted 2020 LULC maps were used to validate the model. Predicted against observed 2020 LULC map, Kappa (loc) statistic was 0.9869. The 2020 LULC patterns was successfully simulated using ANN-MLP with accuracy level of 95%. LULC classes were predicted for 2030 using the 2010–2020 calibration period. The predicted 2030 LULC types shows an increase in built-up (71.44%) and decrease in cropland (0.73%) with reference to 2020 LULC map. Dense forest (0.19%), grassland (0.85%) and bare land (1.37%) will reduce from 2020–2030. However, seasonally flooded, sparse forest, shrub land, wetland and water body will increase marginally. The largest LULC change is from forest into other LULC types. The insights from this study show that ANN-MLP can be used to predict LULCC, and that the generated information can be employed in land use planning and National Adaptation Plans at regional and national scale.

Geospatial assessment of urban sprawl in Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, Ghana from 1991 to 2023

ABSTRACT The upsurge in economic activities and urban dwellers has spurred sprawl-like growth in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis. This study used Landsat imageries and Shannon entropy to assess sprawl in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis. Analysis of the study revealed an increase in built-up by 63.07 km2 while Shannon entropy result (which ranged from 2.17 to 2.47), revealed that the metropolis has been sprawling from 1991 to 2023. Hence, causing significant changes in the land cover composition of the metropolis. This study provides valuable insights into the spatial dynamics of the metropolis, which will guide policymakers in addressing the environmental challenges associated with urban expansion.

Analytical study of relation between Land surface temperature and Land Use/Land Cover using spectral indices: A case study of Chandigarh

Rapid urbanization is the major cause for Land Use and Land Cover changes globally. The urbanization alters the land surface dynamics and affects the surface temperature, which gives rise to urban heat island effect. In the present study, spatial correlation analysis has been done between Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) for the city of Chandigarh. The LST is retrieved from Landsat-8 thermal band using Mono-Window algorithm and shows 2.5°C increase of temperature from 2016 to 2022. The LULC has been derived using Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC) which shows an increase in built-up of 7.56% and decrease in forest cover by 32%. Spectral indices belonging to major LULC classes have been derived using Sentinel-2 optical bands and spatially correlated with LST using linear regression analysis. The results show a strong positive correlation (r=0.988) between built-up and LST and a negative correlation (r=-0.625) between urban vegetation cover and LST. The mean correlation coefficient for LST-NDVI for vegetation and forest cover, LST-NDWI for water bodies, LST-NDBI for built-up and LST-NBLI for bare land is -0.3, 0.116, 0.51 and 0.392 respectively. The results indicate that vegetation and water bodies mitigate the rise of LST, whereas built-up areas and bare lands sustain in the rise of LST. The statistical analysis will be helpful for policy makers and urban planners for prevention of further degradation of urban environment and surface dynamics.

A Comprehensive Study of Assessing Sustainable Agricultural Water Management under Changing Climate Scenarios—A Regional Basis Study in the Western Ghats, India

The Western Ghats (WG) in South India is a biological hotspot with a cluster of small river basins and heterogeneous climate and vegetation patterns, and it is categorized under the water stress region by Central Water Commission (CWC). This study aims to evaluate the effects of climate change and land use/land cover (LULC) transformations on water balance components and irrigation water demand (IWD) across different regions of WG for a future period (2020–2050). The variable infiltration capacity model has been calibrated separately for the upper, middle, and lower regions of WG. Further, climate projections from the CMIP6 experiment (SSP2 45/SSP5 85) have been used for future projections of water balance components. The land use change shows an increase in built-up (5.79%) and a decrease in cultivable land (1.24%) by the end of 2030 from 1995. The combined impact due to climate and LULC change shows that the future rainfall/runoff increases in the lower regions of the basin by 100/36.5 mm/year through SSP 4.5. However, the summer months show an increasing water requirement in the future for the Ghats and Nilgiri regions of the basin. The present regional-based study will be useful for future agriculture water management practices in the region for sustainable development and the study can be extended to other similar regions.

Remote sensing based investigation of coastal LULC dynamics in the coastal region of Bangladesh

Rapid land-use transition on the landscape is accelerating the overall land cover change by altering naturally productive land into more complex land-uses. This study explored the spatial and temporal dynamics of land use and land cover (LULC) as landscape exploration though satellite imagery in the southwest of Bangladesh from 2000 to 2020. The goal of this study was to quantify the overall trend for different LULC changes using satellite imagery from Landsat TM and Landsat OLI/TIRS. Sequential K-means-based unsupervised and more accurate maximum likelihood classification (MLC) algorithm-based supervised methods were used to analyze land-use change for each year. The trend of land-use changes and transition results between 2000 and 2020 showed a massive increase in built-up (2010.654 ha/year) land-use; 525546.18 ha of forest increase (1.7%) in two decades, whereas 13351.59 ha (1.10%) of forest or plantation area was transformed into the built-up area. Remote sensing (RS) based land dynamics is always land cover analysis, especially for the vast area of interest.

Determination of Spatio-temporal pattern of land cover changes in Sokoto-Rima River Basin, Sokoto State, North-Western Nigeria

Natural forest ecosystems provide services that contribute to human well-being such as food, medicines, fuel wood, fresh water and climate regulation. In spite of this, most natural forest ecosystems have been converted or modified into agricultural areas and other human land use to maximize single-purpose use. The objective of this study was to determine spatio-temporal pattern of land cover change in the study area from 1984 to 2019 in Sokoto-Rima River Basin. The methodologies used in the study area include GIS analysis for land use land cover mapping. The result shows that land-use change has taken place in the study area and that human activities had taken a considerable toll on the land-use change. From 1984 to 2019 forest area had decreased at the rates of 7.29% and 9.45%, while grass land increased by 6.69%, also farmland and built-up increase.

Land Use Change Analysis to Springs Conditions in Gunungpati Sub-District, Semarang City

Semarang City has the fastest development in Central Java Province, where the activities are no longer centralized but have expanded to the upper part of the region. The ongoing development certainly impacts changes with the increasing area of built-up land that converts to another cover, such as vegetation. The phenomenon impacts the balance of the environment, one of which is the source of springs. Therefore, this study aims to map the spatial distribution of the springs and identify their physical quality. A quantitative approach was used with spatial analysis. Meanwhile, data collection techniques used document research, high-resolution image interpretation and field surveys. Field surveys were conducted to test the accuracy of land use maps and measurements of discharge, temperature, pH and brightness of the springs. The results showed that there is a change in land use from 2016 - 2021 with an increase in settlements of around 77.25 hectares and commercial service buildings by 178.79 hectares. For land use with the largest decrease in area, agricultural land covers and mixed garden/vegetation covers an area of ​​207.01 and 50.57 hectares. There were 114 springs at the research site, of which 5% of the springs had a relatively large discharge above 10 liters/second, while the other 47% had a small discharge. For pH conditions, there were 6 springs with a pH value of less than 6. Land use change from vegetation to flying land impacts the reduction of the water supply in the soil. The impact can be seen by the non-production of several springs, where 21 springs have not been discharged. In conclusion, there is a change in land use with an increase in built-up from 2016 - 2021 by 256.04 hectares. The increase in built-up is partly in conservation areas, hence damaging several springs. 
 Keywords : Land use change; Springs conditions; Gunungpati Sub-District
 
 Copyright (c) 2022 Geosfera Indonesia and Department of Geography Education, University of Jember
 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share A like 4.0 International License

Determination of spatio-temporal pattern of land cover changes in Sokoto-Rima River Basin, Sokoto State, North-Western Nigeria

Natural forest ecosystems provide services that contribute to human well-being such as food, medicines, fuel wood, fresh water and climate regulation. In spite of this, most natural forest ecosystems have been converted or modified into agricultural areas and other human land use to maximize single-purpose use. The objective of this study was to determine spatio-temporal pattern of land cover change in the study area from 1984 to 2019 in Sokoto-Rima River Basin. The methodologies used in the study area include GIS analysis for land use land cover mapping. The result shows that land-use change has taken place in the study area and that human activities had taken a considerable toll on the land-use change. From 1984 to 2019 forest area had decreased at the rates of 7.29% and 9.45%, while grass land increased by 6.69%, also farmland and built-up increase.

Assessing the trends and drivers of land use land cover change in district Abbottabad lower Himalayan Region Pakistan

Land Use Land Cover (LULC) dynamics and the associated drivers are vehemently debated issues among scientific community due to its significant impact on global scale. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the major trends and drivers influencing LULC change in District Abbottabad, Pakistan. Mixed method approach comprising of remote sensing, Geographic Information System (GIS) and household survey were employed to collect data from 130 households. Descriptive data was analyzed through index-based ranking. Further logistic regression was employed to examine the impact of perceived drivers of LULC change. Ranking of major perceived and proximate drivers identified were unplanned urbanization, natural conditions, agricultural decline and increase infrastructure. While population growth, lack of financial resources, poor marketing and weak governance were identified as underlying drivers of LULC change. Similarly, findings of GIS data revealed massive increase in built-up (3.12%) areas and urbanization at the expense of agricultural and bare land (−15.7%) between 1987 and 2019.

Spatio-temporal changes of land use land cover and ecosystem service values in coastal Bangladesh

Increased human activity and dynamic climate variables have radically altered the global land use land cover (LULC) pattern and the ecosystem services (ES) they offer. However, assessing the impact of such LULC dynamics on ecological resources has rarely been attempted, especially in Bangladesh. Here, we assessed the dynamics of LULC change and associated ecosystem service values (ESVs) of coastal Bangladesh during 1999–2019 by analyzing historical Landsat LULC images and economic valuation techniques, respectively. Findings revealed a high prevalence of rural settlement-based Tree Outside Forest (TOF) land sprawl over agricultural land. Besides, LULC transition analysis revealed an increase in built-up, mangrove forest, water bodies, and saltpan/aquaculture areas and a decrease in agricultural and bare land areas. Overall, the ESV of coastal Bangladesh decreased by 0.47 billion US dollars, from US$ 25.18 billion in 1999 to US$ 24.71 billion in 2019. However, the values of different ES functions, such as food (−10.7%) and raw materials (−7.7%), were found most affected, while slight progress was evident in biodiversity protection (+2.2%), and water regulation (+1.1%) functions. Strong spatial dynamics of ESV changes were observed, with the largest decreases in the districts of Satkhira (−7.90%), Cox'sbazar (−5.75%), and Noakhali (−4.61%), and the highest increases in the districts of Lakshmipur (+4.65%) and Patuakhali (+3.18%). The findings regarding mangrove and TOF growth have important implications for building a buffer against ESV degradation due to the substantial decline in agricultural lands in other parts of the world with related socio-geographical and environmental problems.

Land Use/Land Cover (LU/LC) Changes and its impact on Soil Organic Carbon Stock in Killiar River Basin, Kerala, India: A Geospatial Approach

The changes in the pattern of land use and land cover (LU/LC) have remarkable consequences on ecosystem functioning and natural resources dynamics. The present study analyzes the spatial pattern of LU/LC change detection along the Killiar River Basin (KRB), a major tributary of Karamana river in Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala (India), over a period of 64 years (1957-2021) through Remote Sensing and GIS approach. The rationale of the study is to identify and classify LU/LC changes in KRB using the Survey of India (SOI) toposheet (1:50,000) of 1957, LISS-III imagery of 2005, Landsat 8 OLI & TIRS imagery of 2021 and further to scrutinize the impact of LU/LC conversion on Soil Organic Carbon stock in the study area. Five major LU/LC classes, viz., agriculture land, built-up, forest, wasteland and water bodies were characterized from available data. Within the study period, built-up area and wastelands showed a substantial increase of 51.51% and 15.67% respectively. Thus, the general trend followed is the increase in built-up and wastelands area which results in the decrease of all other LU/LC classes. Based on IPCC guidelines, total soil organic carbon (SOC) stock of different land-use types was estimated and was 1292.72 Mt C in 1957, 562.65 Mt C in 2005 and it reduced to 152.86 Mt C in 2021. This decrease is mainly due to various anthropogenic activities, mainly built-up activities. This conversion for built-up is at par with the rising population, and over-exploitation of natural and agricultural resources is increasing every year.

Analysis of the Future Land Use Land Cover Changes in the Gaborone Dam Catchment Using CA-Markov Model: Implications on Water Resources

Land use/land cover (LULC) changes have been observed in the Gaborone dam catchment since the 1980s. A comprehensive analysis of future LULC changes is therefore necessary for the purposes of future land use and water resource planning and management. Recent advances in geospatial modelling techniques and the availability of remotely sensed data have become central to the monitoring and assessment of both past and future environmental changes. This study employed the cellular automata and Markov chain (CA-Markov) model combinations to simulate future LULC changes in the Gaborone dam catchment. Classified Landsat images from 1984, 1995, 2005 and 2015 were used to simulate the likely LULCs in 2015 and 2035. Model validation compared the simulated and observed LULCs of 2015 and showed a high level of agreement with Kappa variation estimates of Kno (0.82), Kloc (0.82) and Kstandard (0.76). Simulation results indicated a projected increase of 26.09%, 65.65% and 55.78% in cropland, built-up and bare land categories between 2015 and 2035, respectively. Reductions of 16.03%, 28.76% and 21.89% in areal coverage are expected for shrubland, tree savanna and water body categories, respectively. An increase in built-up and cropland areas is anticipated in order to meet the population’s demand for residential, industry and food production, which should be taken into consideration in future plans for the sustainability of the catchment. In addition, this may lead to water quality and quantity (both surface and groundwater) deterioration in the catchment. Moreover, water body reductions may contribute to water shortages and exacerbate droughts in an already water-stressed catchment. The loss of vegetal cover and an increase in built-up areas may result in increased runoff incidents, leading to flash floods. The output of the study provides useful information for land use planners and water resource managers to make better decisions in improving future land use policies and formulating catchment management strategies within the framework of sustainable land use planning and water resource management.

Application of remote sensing for assessment of change in vegetation cover and the subsequent impact on climatic variables.

The impacts of vegetation cover changes (VCCs) and land use land cover changes (LULCCs) on climate variabilities need to be addressed while maintaining healthy urban development. This study aimed to evaluate LULCCs and VCCs and their impacts on land surface temperature (LST) and rainfall in the Darbhanga district of Bihar, India. Landsat data and climate hazard group infrared precipitation with stations (CHIRPS) were used to assess LST or LULCCs and rainfall, respectively, over the study area. Results showed a decline in vegetation cover to 11.73% (26,857.43 ha) in the year 2019 from 19.12% (43,733.61 ha) in 1999. Also an increase in built-up and cropland by 4.9% (11,224.6 ha) and 4.38% (10,043.2 ha), respectively, was observed in the last 20 years. With decreasing vegetation cover in the study area, the mean LST increased while the mean annual rainfall decreased for the study period. The Mann-Kendall trend (MKT) test exhibited no significant trends for LST and rainfall with p values of 0.43 and 0.69, respectively, although Sen's slope indicated variability in LST and rainfall even though it was insignificant over the study area. The study would identify areas requiring immediate action for saving its resources and providing insight into upholding its competence. The findings would also lead to proper decision making for the concerned stakeholders, assuring sustainability in appropriate planning of land use and utilisation of resources and maintain the agroclimatic condition.

Assessing the impact of land use and land cover dynamics on water quality of Dal Lake, NW Himalaya, India

A dynamic process like land use, if anthropogenically unsustainable, adversely affects the well-being of the land system. Worldwide, water bodies are facing imminent threat due to unsustainable anthropogenic activities. Water quality and ecology are the two characteristics of water bodies, if not preserved, shall have a direct consequence on the well-being of the human systems. Hence it is essential to understand the causes and consequences of the deteriorating water body systems. The condition is particularly grim in Himalayan water body ecosystems, where unplanned and unchecked urbanization has threatened their very existence. In the present study, the dynamics of land use/land cover (LULC) and its impact on the water quality of Dal Lake in Kashmir Himalaya, India has been assessed. We carried out a detailed study wherein changing LULC is analyzed against the deteriorating trophic status of the Dal Lake using time-series of satellite imagery of the lake’s catchment and its water quality data. Results indicated that the water quality of Dal Lake has remarkably deteriorated due to increased nutrient and sediment loads from the catchment, attributed to significant anthropogenic activities in the catchment. Due to unprecedented LULC changes in the catchment, the forest class shows a significantly negative change since the last four decades (1980–2018), corroborating with the ongoing deterioration of physicochemical characteristics of the lake. The analysis shows an increase in all the agents of eutrophication, such as NO3–N, TP, and COD, from 1990 to 2018. The decrease in forest, agriculture, and floating gardens was observed to show a significant negative correlation with the increase in the decadal average values of the COD, NO3–N, and TP for the same corresponding period. Similarly, a positive correlation was found between the increase in built-up, aquatic vegetation, bare surfaces, and these water quality parameters, establishing a strong relationship between the deteriorating condition of the lake and changing LULC. Our findings indicate that changing LULC of the lake’s catchment is one of the critical factors that has significantly contributed toward the deteriorating ecology and water quality of the Dal Lake. This study shall contribute toward the development of the robust conservation strategy in order to save this urban lake from its untimely death.

Spatio-temporal characteristics of land cover changes of Liangjiang new destrict in China during 2010-2018

Based on WorldView-2 remote sensing images and other survey materials, we analysis the spatio-temporal characteristics of land cover change in Liangjiang New District during 2010 to 2018. The results are summarized as follows: 1) Land cover pattern changed dramatically, with the built-up increase, while the crop land, forest and grass land decrease. 2) Change in land cover types showed marked fluctuations over the three stages (2010-2012, 2012-2015, 2015-2018). Districts with the most obvious change of CL and FGS concentrated in the East and north of the Liangjiang New District. 3) There were significant differences in the intensity of land use dynamic degree change among different regions. The relative change land use dynamic degree of Lijia Street is the biggest, followed by Yuelai Street, Fusheng Town and Longxing Town.

Evaluating Changes in Land Use Land Cover using Remote Sensing Satellite Data and GIS (A Case Study in Patna Municipal Corporation Area) Patna, Bihar

Evaluation of land use land cover (LULC) change is an essential aspect of development in rural and urban sectors. This paper investigates the changes in LULC aspects of an environmentally vulnerable Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) area in the middle-Ganga Plain, India. We offer Remote Sensing (RS), and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques delineated LULC types include water bodies, agriculture land, fallow land, wasteland, built-up land and vegetation of the study area. LULC mapping of the study area was done through False Color Composite (FCC) Satellite image Resourcesat-1 (IRS P6 LISS-IV) and Resourcesat 2A (IRS-R2A LISS-IV) with 5.8-meter spatial resolution data of the year 2007 and 2018 respectively. The supervised classification and maximum likelihood equation were used to classified two multi-temporal images. Then temporal changes were detected by comparison between two LULC classified maps of 2007 and 2018, which was produced independently. Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) area, Patna is one of the environmentally vulnerable areas under the threat of environmental and ecological degradation as a result of human activities due to improper land cover management. The main objective of using change detection is an important technique to detect changes in LULC over time in PMC, Patna between 2007-2018, and it is significant for updating land cover or natural resource management. The interpretation of this study has substantial changes in LULC occurred in the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) area, Patna within the period 2007-2018, related to urbanisation and economic development. The analysis outcome indicates the most remarkable changes occurred an increase in Built-up, (+) 21.86 % between 2007-2018, whereas the area of cropland and vegetation decreased (-) 8.95 % and (-) 5.8% respectively between 2007-2018. In the spatial distribution pattern, other changes have also occurred. This study will give the benefit in future action plans in land use and urban development and avoid LULC changes without proper planning. It will be most significant for the natural environment.

Urban overspill and its upshot to the Bafoussam Emergent Metropolis in Cameroon

Unbridled urban sprawl in Sub-Saharan African cities reflects an infirmity that warrants both vaccination and treatment to curb urban disorder and its costs. This article divulges that rapid population growth, spatial expansion and economic activities are responsible for the urban overspill and its upshot in Bafoussam. Unplanned settlement from the rapid growing population has led to the development of slumps and reduction of arable land. A multi-spectral Landsat satellite imagery of 1988, 2001 and 2016 was used to determine the spatial expansion of the town over a period of 30 years. Field observation and interview sessions were done to have information on the proliferation of economic activities to the expansion of the town. An in-depth secondary data collection was done to gather information on the rate of population growth of Bafoussam. The data was processed to generate maps through the ArcGIS 10.4 and Adobe Illustrator CS soft wares and tables through SPSS 17 for results and analyses. Results from findings propound a significant increase in the built-up area of Bafoussam of 19.34% in 1988, 50.30% in 2001 and 79.41% in 2016. This increase was accompanied by a drop in the vegetation of 78.64% in 1988, 48.50% in 2001 and 20.07% in 2016. The built-up increase was provoked by a persistent rise in the population of the city from 62, 239 inhabitants in 1976 to 112,681 in 1987 and 282,800 in 2010. Industrial and commercial activities developed in the course of the twin increase and unfortunately with no control triggered urban disorder. This article advocates for a mandatory implementation of the urban norms in Cameroon to liberate Bafoussam from the drowning overspill syndrome plaguing Sub-Saharan cities.

Satellite-Driven Land Surface Temperature (LST) Using Landsat 5, 7 (TM/ETM+ SLC) and Landsat 8 (OLI/TIRS) Data and Its Association with Built-Up and Green Cover Over Urban Delhi, India

One of the most important impacts of urbanisation in Indian cities is the conversion of green belts and agriculture land into the built-up area in the periphery (Chadchan and Shankar, Int J Sustainable Built Environ 1:36–49, 2012; Pandey and Seto, J Environ Manag 148:53–66, 2015). With these physical changes, i.e. decrease in green cover and increase in built-up, the land surface temperature (LST) is bound to increase. The green area is a basic need of any city because it is a must for a healthy life and also maintains the aesthetic and ecological beauty in the urban areas (Low et al. 2007). The present study aims to analyse the association between built-up, green cover and land surface temperature for which district-level analysis of the normalised differential built-up index (NDBI), normalised differential vegetation index (NDVI) and land surface temperature (LST) has been done over the urban area of Delhi. In this study, Landsat 7 (ETM+ SLC) for 2003, Landsat 5 (TM) for 2010, and Landsat 8 (OLI/TIRS) for 2017 have been used together with Survey of India (SOI) toposheet of Delhi at 1:25,000. Indices like NDBI, NDVI and LST are calculated for 2003, 2010 and 2017 using the spectral radiance model (SRM), the mono-window algorithm (MWA) and the split window algorithm (SWA). Thereafter, district-wise NDBI, NDVI and LST are extracted by using clip tools in ArcGIS 10.5 software. To analyse the relationship between built-up and green cover with LST, correlation is done in SPSS software and a scatter diagram is made to assess the correlation amongst the variables. The further surface temperature profile is created to know which part of the Delhi has the highest and lowest temperatures on a particular surface. The study shows that NDVI and LST are negatively correlated with each other as vegetation has a cooling effect on the land surface temperature whereas NDBI and LST are positively correlated with each other. The studies show a change in the distribution of vegetation cover and gradually increase in the built-up land which results in the increase in land surface temperature to about 3.31 °C in the last 14 years. The result shows that MWA give the most accurate result in this study since RMSE of MWA is the lowest (0.71 °C) amongst the three algorithms used in the study. Temporal analysis of land surface temperature by all the three algorithms shows the increase in land surface temperature of Delhi between 2003 and 2017.

Implication of Human Induced Activities on Ecotourism in Ikogosi Warm Spring Centre, Ekiti State, Southern western, Nigeria

<p>The magnitude effect of human activities on the environment is of great concern. In this study investigation on the pattern of land use land cover change in the Ikogosi Ekiti, South Western and Nigeria was carried out. A 30 meter Landsat image of TM 1991, ETM+ 2002 and OLI 2015 were used for the study. The satellite images were digitally processed using Arcgis10.3 and Idrisi Selva 17.0 while Markov Chain Modeler was employed for prediction. Supervised Classification was performed through Maximum Likelihood Classification resulting into identification of five LULC classes which were built-up, rock outcrop, dense vegetation, light vegetation and water body; fragmentation analysis was done using Fragstat 4.0.</p><p>The results showed that anthropogenic activities resulted in 25.93% increase in built-up between the periods of 1991 and 2015 with a substantial loss (29.97%) of dense vegetation within the study area were detected. Fragmentation metric showed that the Number of Patches (NP) increased by 257, 268 and 281 while Shannon Diversity Index (SHIDI) correspondingly showed a decreased of 0.54, 0.47 and 0.21 for species diversity in year 1991, 2002 and 2015 respectively; indigenous respondents (70.1%) affirmed the extinction of biodiversity. Furthermore, the Markov Chain Modeler revealed that built-up was expected to increase by 36.7, 39.1 and 69.6% while dense vegetation will correspondingly decrease by 25.4, 22.9 and 18.7% in year 2030, 2050 and 2065 respectively. The result revealed that anthropogenic activities in the study area had contributed to massive removal of vegetation and this pattern had negatively affected the biomass condition of the study area indicting the region to experience an ecosystem imbalance and incidence of global warming. The changing spatial pattern was attributed to the tourism developmental phases in-around Ikogosi community which had increased deforestation, exotic plants and poaching by Ikogosi inhabitants and tourist visits to the study area.</p><p>The study concluded that various tourism development activities had adversely affected the nature of biodiversity, threatened land-use management and vegetation in the study area.</p>

Assessment of land use land cover change impact on hydrological regime of a basin

The sustainability of water resources mainly depends on planning and management of land use; a small change in it may affect water yield largely, as both are linked through relevant hydrological processes, explicitly. However, human activities, especially a significant increase in population, in-migration and accelerated socio-economic activities, are constantly modifying the land use and land cover (LULC) pattern. The impact of such changes in LULC on the hydrological regime of a basin is of widespread concern and a great challenge to the water resource engineers. While studying these impacts, the issue that prevails is the selection of a hydrological model that may be able to accommodate spatial and temporal dynamics of the basin with higher accuracy. Therefore, in the present study, the capabilities of variable infiltration capacity hydrological model to hydrologically simulate the basin under varying LULC scenarios have been investigated. For the present analysis, the Pennar River Basin, Andhra Pradesh, which falls under a water scarce region in India, has been chosen. The water balance components such as runoff potential, evapotranspiration (ET) and baseflow of Pennar Basin have been simulated under different LULC scenarios to study the impact of change on hydrological regime of a basin. Majorly, increase in built-up (13.94% approx.) and decrease in deciduous forest cover (2.44%) are the significant changes observed in the basin during the last three decades. It was found that the impact of LULC change on hydrology is balancing out at basin scale (considering the entire basin, while routing the runoff at the basin outlet). Therefore, an analysis on spatial variation in each of the water balance components considered in the study was done at grid scale. It was observed that the impact of LULC is considerable spatially at grid level, and the maximum increase of 265 mm (1985–2005) and the decrease of 48 mm (1985–1995) in runoff generation at grid were estimated. On the contrary, ET component showed the maximum increase of 400 and decrease of 570 mm under different LULC change scenario. Similarly, in the base flow parameter, an increase of 70 mm and the decrease of 100 mm were observed. It was noticed that the upper basin is showing an increasing trend in almost all hydrological components as compared to the lower basin. Based on this basin scale study, it was concluded that change in the land cover alters the hydrology; however, it needs to be studied at finer spatial scale rather than the entire basin as a whole. The information like the spatial variation in hydrological components may be very useful for local authority and decision-makers to plan mitigation strategies accordingly.