Sustainable Management Of Land Resources Research Articles

On Evaluating Social Learning Outcomes of Serious Games to Collaboratively Address Sustainability Problems: A Literature Review

Serious games are increasingly explored as collaborative tools to enhance social learning on sustainable management of land and natural resources. A systematic literature review was conducted to examine the current state of the art of the different methods and procedures used to assess social learning outcomes of collaborative serious games. Forty-two publications were identified and included in the review following study selection and quality assessment steps. Extracted data from the publications were categorized in relation to five research questions. Approaches that were used to assess cognitive, normative, and relational learning outcomes of collaborative serious games were subsequently identified based on the categorizations. As a result, these approaches distinguished between the nature of learning in the assessment of collaborative serious games. Combined, these approaches provide an overview of how to assess social learning outcomes of collaborative serious games, including the methods and procedures that can be used, and may serve as a reference for scholars designing and evaluating collaborative serious games.

Environmental Policy and Land Management in Rural Areas of Ukraine

The research studies the issue of ecological stability of rural territories that is the most important component of the national environmental policy of Ukraine. A special attention is paid to degradation of arable lands as the main ecological problem of land management. On the example of Lviv region, the authors calculated the index of ecological nonconformity of current use of arable lands, proving a considerable excess of permissible ploughing of lands in the region. The carried analysis confirms that no measures were performed concerning land protection, including conservation that in the recent years. In this context it is necessary to improve land resources management on the basis of sustainable development. Integration is considered to be the main principle of land resources management. The research proves that solution of ecological problems of land management requires achievement of a set of coordinated targets concerning development of rural territories, land resources management and national environmental policy based on the principles of suitable development. The targets include: planning of land use outside settled areas on the landscape and ecological basis; land inventory; formation of the land bank of agricultural lands; development and support of alternative kinds of activity on rural area; development of an efficient mechanism to encourage performance of land protection measures; improvement of environmental responsibility of population and development of ecological education. The methodological basis of the research is the concept of sustainable development, which expects support for a continuous character of development in order to meet the current needs along with ensuring the needs of future generations. The fulfilment of the task requires examination of scientific works on the issue of sustainable management of land resources and an ecological component of rural territory development.

Water–land nexus in food trade based on ecological network analysis

Massive amounts of water and land embodied in crops are transferred via food trade. This study established a network-based framework for the water–land nexus in food trade to investigate the spatial linkages of water, land, and food. Based on the gravity model and linear programming optimization, the food trade model was first built to simulate crop trade. Then water consumption and land use for various crops in different regions were inventoried to establish the food-related virtual water network and food-related virtual land network. Grey water related to water quality, blue and green water related to water quantity, were incorporated into the food-related virtual water accounting framework to identify the role of food trade in the spatial reallocation of water. Similarly, the food-related virtual land network was built based on the land use for different crops and the food trade model. Finally, a case study was conducted using ecological network analysis to analyze the properties and connections within the food-related virtual water/land networks of China. The results showed that the green and grey water consumption associated with food production, the effects of which have previously been neglected, account for a huge proportion of the total water consumption, especially in water-scarce provinces. The controllers/dependents in the networks that have strong control relationships with other provinces were identified. The proposed network-based framework for the water–land nexus may help boost synergies associated with spatial reallocation of water and land via food trade and explore pathways for sustainable management of water, land, and food resources.

Wavelet and non-parametric statistical based approach for long term land cover trend analysis using time series EVI data

Land cover change analysis was carried out using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) time series data for the period 2005–2014. MODIS EVI data coupled with Quality Assessment Science Data Sets (QASDS) was de-noised with Savitzky–Golay filter while enhancing quality and preserving the temporal profile of EVI. Wavelet transform (WT) based approach along with Sen slope’s method was used for land cover change and trend analysis. The WT based approach is useful for studying multiscale and non-stationary processes. Mann–Kendall test was performed to confirm the significance of the identified trends. Proposed approach identified 358 locations as change points, where 285 (79.6%) and 73 (20.4%) locations were detected as ‘Change’ and ‘False Change’ with respect to high resolution images. The proposed approach is useful for monitoring land cover changes that provide vital inputs for sustainable management of land resources.

Competition for land resources: driving forces and consequences in crop-livestock production systems of the Ethiopian highlands

IntroductionEthiopia has made efforts to tackle the challenges of low crop and livestock productivity and degradation of land resources through various rural development strategies. However, increasing demands for food, animal feed, fuel, and income-generating activities are putting pressure on the land. In this paper, we describe the production pressure and competition between crop and livestock production, quantify rates of land-use/cover (LULC) changes, and examine driving forces and consequences of land conversion.MethodsThe study was conducted in Gudo Beret watershed, North Shewa Zone of Amhara region, Ethiopia. It used a combination of methods including remote sensing, household interviews, field observations, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. Supervised and unsupervised image classification methods were employed to map LULC classes for 31 years (1984–2016).ResultsThe results of satellite remote sensing revealed that 51% of the land in the study area was subject to accelerated land conversions. The household survey results indicated that feed resources and grain production pressures were 1.43 and 1.34 t ha−1 respectively. The observed annual changes in plantation and settlement areas were 2.6% and 2.9%. This was mainly at the expense of bushland and grazing land systems. Cropland increased (0.4% year−1) while grazing land reduced (3.5% year−1) under contrasting dynamics and competitive changes. An increase in human and livestock populations and farm expansion were major drivers of land conversion that adversely affected household livelihoods and the natural ecosystem. The consequences of these pressures resulted in a lack of animal feed, low crop-livestock productivity, and a reduction in natural vegetation coverage.ConclusionsWe suggest that sustainable land resource management, more integrated crop-livestock production, and the use of productivity-enhancing technologies could play a role in managing competition for land resources.

Assessments of spatial land cover dynamic hotspots employing MODIS time-series datasets in the Ken River Basin of Central India

Nowadays, advancements in remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) are progressively employed to combat sustainable land management issues. In the present study, advanced MODIS (MCD12Q1) time-series datasets have been utilized to identify the spatial land cover dynamic hotspots in the Ken River Basin (KRB) of Central India during the years 2001 to 2013. Annual MODIS land cover datasets were analyzed in the ArcGIS 10.2.2 environment. The “Combine” tool of the spatial analyst toolbox was employed to assign a unique combination of land cover dynamics. The result shows that the major land degradation was pronounced for natural vegetation (14.38%), and major land greening was observed for crop land (9.68%) and woody savannas (6.94%). The spatial analysis indicates that the upper KRB area has experienced the land degradation of natural vegetation class into crop land (3418.87 km2) and woody savannas (1242.23 km2) areas. The deciduous broadleaf forest of about 1043.6 km2 area was changed into woody savannas. This might be the major transition to pronounce land greening in the study area. Moreover, major inter-transitions between crop land (669.31 km2) and woody savannas (874.09 km2) were observed during the years 2001–2013. The study reveals that the major part of natural vegetation (NV) has changed into woody savannas (WS) and crop land (CL). Furthermore, the spatial analysis shows that hotspots of land cover dynamics have been observed mostly in the upper part of KRB. Overall, land transition information of the present study can be used as an early-warning land cover dynamic system for sustainable management and development of land resources.

Stream Discharge Response to Climate Change and Land Use Change in Tamor Basin, Nepal

Climate change and land use change are two major issues that need to be addressed for sustainable land and water resource management. These are major factors influencing discharge in monsoon dominated basin. This study aims to quantitatively assess the impact of climate change and land use change on future discharge of the Tamor basin in Nepal. Result from the study indicated maximum temperature will reach to 40.63°C in 2030s, 40.63°C in 2060s and 45.95°C in 2090s which was 35°C in baseline period (1976-2005). Annual average precipitation was projected to change by 17.64% under RCP 4.5 and by 39.88% under RCP 8.5 till the end of the century as projected by HadGEM2. Since the basin is monsoon dominated, annual discharge was projected to increase by 12.25% under RCP 4.5 and by 32.67% under RCP 8.5 above baseline average till the end of the century. Result using HadGEM2 also shows that peak flows that used to occur in August in baseline period will shift to July except in 2030s under RCP 4.5. However, CSIRO-Mk3.6.0 projects decrease in annual precipitation and hence also discharge at the end of the century. Result from both Global Climate Models show that average monthly discharge due to climate change will change positively as well as negatively for both scenarios. Due to combined impact of land use change and climate change, annual discharge was projected to change by 16.53%, 21.28% and -4.39% under RCP 4.5 and by 38.29%, 45.64% and 13.06% under RCP 8.5 till the end of the century for conversion of forest into agricultural land, conversion of forest into barren land and conversion of barren land into forest respectively. Average annual discharge increased the most in case of conversion of forest into barren land and decreased or increased the least in case of conversion of barren land into forest. Unlike annual, seasonal response to combined impact was different. In monsoon and pre monsoon, discharge increased or decreased the least in case of conversion of forest into agricultural land and barren land while increased the least or decreased in case of conversion of barren land into forest. However, in post monsoon and winter, discharge decreased the least or increased the most in case of conversion of barren land into forest but discharge decreased the most or increased the least in case of conversion of forest into agricultural land and barren land.

Impacts of Climate Change on Soil Erosion in the Great Lakes Region

Quantifying changes in potential soil erosion under projections of changing climate is important for the sustainable management of land resources, as soil loss estimates will be helpful in identifying areas susceptible to erosion, targeting future erosion control efforts, and/or conservation funding. Therefore, the macro-scale Variable Infiltration Capacity—Water Erosion Prediction Project (VIC-WEPP) soil erosion model was utilized to quantify soil losses under three climate change scenarios (A2, A1B, B1) using projections from three general circulation models (GFDL, PCM, HadCM3) for the Great Lakes region from 2000 to 2100. Soil loss was predicted to decrease throughout three future periods (2030s, 2060s, and 2090s) by 0.4–0.7 ton ha−1 year−1 (4.99–23.2%) relative to the historical period (2000s) with predicted air temperature increases of 0.68–4.34 °C and precipitation increases of 1.74–63.7 mm year−1 (0.23–8.6%). In the forested northern study domain erosion kept increasing by 0.01–0.18 ton ha−1 year−1 over three future periods due to increased precipitation of 9.7–68.3 mm year−1. The southern study domain covered by cropland and grassland had predicted soil loss decreases of 0.01–1.43 ton ha−1 year−1 due to air temperature increases of 1.75–4.79 °C and reduced precipitation in the summer. Fall and winter had greater risks of increased soil loss based on predictions for these two seasons under the A2 scenario, with the greatest cropland soil loss increase due to increased fall precipitation, and combined effects of increases in both precipitation and air temperature in the winter. Fall was identified with higher risks under the A1B scenario, while spring and summer were identified with the greatest risk of increased soil losses under the B1 scenario due to the increases in both precipitation and air temperature.

Modelled impacts of policies and climate change on land use and water quality in Austria

Climate change is a major driver of land use with implications for the quality and quantity of water resources. We apply a novel integrated impact modelling framework (IIMF) to analyze climate change impacts until 2040 and stakeholder driven scenarios on water protection policies for sustainable management of land and water resources in Austria. The IIMF mainly consists of the sequentially linked bio-physical process model EPIC, the regional land use optimization model PASMA[grid], the quantitative precipitation/runoff TUWmodel, and the nutrient emission model MONERIS. Three climate scenarios with identical temperature trends but diverging precipitation patterns shall represent uncertainty ranges from climate change, i.e. a dry and wet situation. Water protection policies are clustered to two policy portfolios WAP_I and WAP_II, which are targeted to regions (WAP_I) or applied at the national scale (WAP_II). Policies cover agri-environmental programs and legal standards and tackle management measures such as restrictions in fertilizer, soil and crop rotation management as well as establishment of buffer strips. Results show that average national agricultural gross margin varies by ±2%, but regional impacts are more pronounced particularly under a climate scenario with decreasing precipitation sums. WAP_I can alleviate pressures compared to the business as usual scenario but does not lead to the achievement of environmental quality standards for P in all rivers. WAP_II further reduces total nutrient emissions but at higher total private land use costs. At the national average, total private land use costs for reducing nutrient emission loads in surface waters are 60–200 €/kg total N and 120–250 €/kg total P with precipitation and the degree of regional targeting as drivers. To conclude, the IIMF is able to capture the interfaces between climate change, land use, and water quality in a policy context. Despite efforts to improve model linkages and the robustness of model output, uncertainty propagations in integrated modelling frameworks need to be tackled in subsequent studies.

Assessment of land degradation through people's perception and knowledge toward management in Oman

ABSTRACTThe focus of this study was to determine people's perception and knowledge toward land degradation and management in the Al-Suwaiq Wilayat of Al-Batinah North, Sultanate of Oman. This area has been under pressure and competed for by several uses. Structured questionnaire survey with questions related to land degradation and management were used for the assessment in the beginning of the year 2016. In total, 238 households were surveyed in the Wilayat following a random sampling method. The results indicate that residents were aware of the on-going land degradation due to salinization, construction, and public work activities in the area. Residents perceive land degradation mainly by reduced yields and the most important perceived indicator is loss of soil nutrients that reduced crop yield, reduction in family income followed by increased cost for management. The study findings highlight that sustainable use and management of land resources is required in creating awareness programs to educate residents and successful policies toward improving land degradation in the area. In addition, this study shows that appropriate enabling policies and institutional arrangements are also required. Such measures should combine proven indigenous practices as well as knowledge into technical approaches toward ensuring local participation in decision-making.

Land suitability assessment for major crops by using GIS-based multi-criteria approach in Andit Tid watershed, Ethiopia

Land evaluation is a foundation for sustainable land resource planning and management. In Ethiopia, national economic development is highly dependent on agriculture. And, the productivity of the la...

Status quo and present challenges of the sustainable use and management of water and land resources in Central Asian irrigation zones - The example of the Navoi region (Uzbekistan)

Soil salinization is a major problem in many arid and agriculturally used regions and Central Asia is a prime example for this. Intensive irrigation, saline water resources, shallow groundwater tables and high evapotranspiration rates lead to the enrichment of salts in the top soils and a reduced soil productivity in the Central Asian lowlands. This is aggravated by a strong socioeconomic growth which results in an increase in the water consumption and the intensification of the farming practices (e.g. fertilizer application). This article analyses these problems for the Navoi province in Uzbekistan, a region located in the lower reaches of the Zarafshan River in the Kyzyl Kum desert. Between 2000 and 2015 detailed data on the groundwater table, groundwater salinity and the soil salinity were collected, complemented by meteorological data, soil characteristics, water use, and fertilizer statistics. Based on these datasets the ameliorate soil conditions in the Navoi irrigation zone and their temporal dynamic were assessed.The results show that both the groundwater and soil salinity have improved slightly during the last 15 years. Especially the percentages of samples with a high salinity have been reduced significantly. In 2015 only 0.7% of the irrigated soils have been categorized as highly saline while 71.3% were only slightly saline and 18.3% non-saline, while those values for the year 2000 were 6.1%, 51.5%, and 13.2%. The ameliorate soil conditions, on the other hand, have not improved accordingly, but showed a slight deterioration, even if they are overall satisfactory in 79.6% of the area. The percentage of irrigated soils with an unsatisfactory condition has increased from 3 to 13.9% between 2000 and 2014. This development is not related to any climatological, soil or groundwater parameters, so that the impacts of an increased water usage for urban and industrial purposes (and the related effects on the water quality), as well as the increased fertilizer application, seem to be a possible explanation for the observed trend.The results show the impact of the low efficiency of the irrigation and drainage system, which is outdated, not well maintained and thus often failing, on the groundwater level and the soil salinization, but also how the attempts to update the system during the recent years has led to a slight improvement of the soil and groundwater salinity.

Integrating indigenous knowledge for participatory land use planning (PLUP) in Tra Hat hamlet, a climate-smart village in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam

Agriculture is a primary source of livelihood in the Vietnamese Mekong River Delta with different land use activities. There are different potential conflicts in agricultural land use, including: water resources use and interests. Therefore, establishing feasible land use planning (LUP) in an area needs an in-depth participation and discussion among stakeholders (including: governments at different levels, local farmers, and national and international scientists). Indigenous knowledge of local farmers plays an important role in making land use decision, which can support solving land-use conflicts to achieve the most sustainable management of land resources. In this study, we integrated local knowledge into a land use planning process to assess the suitability of land use types and to project potential impacts of climate change conditions on land use decisions in the Tra Hat hamlet, one of the climate-smart village (CSV) sites in the Vietnamese Mekong River Delta. A total of two consultation meetings, using simple tools (resources mapping, timeline, seasonal calendar, wealth ranking, Venn diagram, pair wise ranking, and key informants’ interviews), were conducted, and 130 households were interviewed during a field visit in 2015. As a result, a participatory land use planning (PLUP) was implemented with active participation of the concerned communities to establish a suitable land use planning and identify the potential adaptation techniques in the near future (2020). Land use planning at the hamlet was discussed to get the agreement and the coordination among local governments, farmers and scientists on adaptation practices.

From Fragmented to Integrated Knowledge for Sustainable Water and Land Management and Governance in Highland–Lowland Contexts

The crucial role mountain ecosystems play for mountain communities and people living in the lowlands is emphasized by the 3 mountain-specific targets of Agenda 2030 (targets 6.6, 15.1, and 15.4). To achieve these targets, sound and integrated knowledge is needed for policy- and decision-making that fosters sustainable management of water and land resources in mountain areas, including equitable negotiation of trade-offs between stakeholders. The Water and Land Resources Centres in Kenya and Ethiopia and the recently approved Global Land Programme working group on Land Systems for Mountain Futures are just 2 of a number of initiatives launched by the Centre for Development and Environment and its partners to integrate and share knowledge for evidence-informed policies and practices aimed at safeguarding key mountain ecosystem services.

Coastal landuse and land cover change and transformations of Kanyakumari coast, India using remote sensing and GIS

The coastal landuse and land cover features in the South West coast of Kanyakumari are dynamically regulated due to marine and terrestrial processes and often controlling by natural and anthropogenic activities. The primary objective of this study is to estimate the decadal changes and their transformations of landuse and land cover (LULC) features under Level II category of USGS-LULC Classification System using Landsat ETM+ and TM images using Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC) algorithm for the period 2000–2011. The classified LULC features are categorized as beachface land cover, cultivable lands, plantation and shrub vegetation, fallow land, barren land, settlements and built-ups, water bodies, and mining area, etc. The geo-database is prepared for LULC feature class with an attributes of name, location, area and spatial distribution, etc. It shows the larger area in beachface land cover (sandy beaches, foredunes, uplands, Teri dunes (laterite) and associated nearshore landforms), plantations, cultivable lands, fallows, and barren lands are converted into built-ups and it increases more than twice in the period of 10years. Using GIS techniques, the analysis of change detection matrix reveals that the total area of 45.90km2 in different LULC features periodically shifted or transformed from one state to another one or more states, i.e. the beachface land cover area of 1.24km2 is encroached for built-ups and 0.63km2 for placer mining during the decade. Meanwhile, the area of 0.21km2 in this cover is transformed into wetlands and saltwater bodies. During the past decade, the expansion of area in the built-ups and settlements are directly proportional to the growth of population, which produces severe threat to the coastal resources. Accuracy assessment of classified images shows the overall accuracy is estimated as 81.16% and 77.52% and overall Kappa coeffient statistical values of 0.83 and 0.76 for the year 2000 and 2011 respectively. Ground truth verification of the extracted LULC features performed using 120 samples (10 samples per class) reveals that the accuracy of classified features is 89%. This indicates the acceptable accuracy of the classified LULC features for landuse and land cover change studies. The geodatabase of LULC features is used as primary source for sustainable land resource management in the coastal region.

Monitoring the variations of evapotranspiration due to land use/cover change in a semiarid shrubland

Abstract. Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important process in the hydrological cycle, and vegetation change is a primary factor that affects ET. In this study, we analyzed the annual and inter-annual characteristics of ET using continuous observation data from eddy covariance (EC) measurement over 4 years (1 July 2011 to 30 June 2015) in a semiarid shrubland of Mu Us Sandy Land, China. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was demonstrated as the predominant factor that influences the seasonal variations in ET. Additionally, during the land degradation and vegetation rehabilitation processes, ET and normalized ET both increased due to the integrated effects of the changes in vegetation type, topography, and soil surface characteristics. This study could improve our understanding of the effects of land use/cover change on ET in the fragile ecosystem of semiarid regions and provide a scientific reference for the sustainable management of regional land and water resources.

Sustainable management of land resources and organic farming

Sustainable management of land resources and organic farming

Mitigating the Impact of Climate Change by Reducing Evaporation Losses: Sediment Removal from the High Aswan Dam Reservoir

Scientists in Egypt are particularly interested in the sustainable management of water and land resources. Global climate change will have a dramatic impact on the Egyptian water and land resources as well as its coastline and agriculture. Egypt is likely to become one of the most vulnerable countries in the world in the next several decades. Many climate scenarios predict that climate change will severely affect rainfall in the Nile basin and the flow of the Nile River in general and the High Aswan Dam Reservoir (HADR) in particular. Global warming and the higher temperatures will lead to higher evaporation rates, which, in turn, will result in less water availability at the HADR. Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation predicts that the evaporation losses will, compared to the mean annual evaporation rates for the last 30 years, be approximately 3% to 10% higher by the year 2100. Since the construction of the High Aswan Dam fifty years ago, high sediment loads are a tremendous problem. 6.6 Billion Cubic Meter (km3) of sediments were deposited in the HADR during this period. The sediment has raised the lakebed level as well as the water level and caused a larger surface area. These developments have decreased the storage capacity of HADR and have increased the evaporation rate. The presented paper investigates the impact of lowering the lakebed by removing sediments from the HADR with a distinct emphasis on evaporation losses. A digital elevation model for the HADR was developed to describe the hydrological characteristics and to assess the consequences of removing sediment deposits. The results show that the removal of sediments will reduce evaporation losses by about 1.1 km3 projected for 2100, which represents 6.5% of the total projected evaporation losses.

DETERMINANTS OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN NEW VALLEY GOVERNORATE, EGYPT

The purposes of this study were to measure respondents’ applicationof sustainable agriculture technologies in the study area, identify factors determining this level of application, and to determine problems facing the agricultural sustainability from the viewpoint of farmers in the study area. Three villages (Al-liwaa Sobieh, Abdel-Mageid Al-Goghail, and Talaat Dergham) belonging to the New Valley observatory for development and cooperatives, Farafrah, New Valley governorate were selected to be the place of the study. Data were collected from a sample of 135 respondents (60, 37, and 38 respectively) during the period of June and July 2016 by personal interviews using a questionnaire form. Frequencies, percentages,range, average, standard deviation, Cronbach’s Alpha, one way ANOVA,and Step-Wise multiple regression analysis were used for data analysis andresults’ presentation. Findings of the study revealed that ‘F’ value was notsignificant at any probability level; this indicated that there are no meandifferences of farmers’ application of sustainable agriculture technologieswithin the three studied villages; this resulted on the combination of the three study’s samples into one sample. Results also revealed that farmers’application of sustainable management of agricultural resources could be ranked as: animal resources (79.6٪ of the maximum score), plant resources (64.6٪ of the maximum score), land resources (61.4٪ of the maximum score), and finally water resources (56.9٪ of the maximum score). Theaverage score of farmers’ application of sustainable agriculture was 39.81(64.2٪ of the maximum score). The majority of respondents (63.7٪) were located in the medium level of sustainable agriculture scale. Regarding factors determine level of adoption of sustainable agriculture technologies,results show that there are significant relationships between farmers’sustainable management of plant resources and 8 independent factors, 3 of them explain about 42.3٪ of differences in the dependent variable. Fiveindependent variables were significantly related with farmers’ sustainablemanagement of land resources, 3 of them explain about 23.4٪ of differences in the dependent variable. Five independent variables were also significantly related with farmers’ sustainable management of water resources, one ofthem explain about 7.6٪ of differences in the dependent variable. Findings also show that there are significant relationship between 9 independentvariables and farmers’ sustainable management of animal resources, 3 ofthem explain about 54.1٪ of differences in the dependent variable. With regard to the total score of sustainable agriculture scale, results show thatthere are 7 independent variables related to farmers’ application ofsustainable agriculture technologies, 2 of them explain about 39.2٪ of differences in the dependent variable. Finally the study determined problems facing sustainability of agriculture and concluded some recommendations.

Reducing landscape heterogeneity for improved land use and land cover (LULC) classification across the large and complex Ethiopian highlands

This paper presents a land use and land cover (LULC) classification approach that accounts landscape heterogeneity. We addressed this challenge by subdividing the study area into more homogeneous segments using several biophysical and socio-economic factors as well as spectral information. This was followed by unsupervised clustering within each homogeneous segment and supervised class assignment. Two classification schemes differing in their level of detail were successfully applied to four landscape types of distinct LULC composition. The resulting LULC map fulfills two major requirements: (1) differentiation and identification of several LULC classes that are of interest at the local, regional, and national scales, and (2) high accuracy of classification. The approach overcomes commonly encountered difficulties of classifying second-level classes in large and heterogeneous landscapes. The output of the study responds to the need for comprehensive LULC data to support ecosystem assessment, policy formulation, and decision-making towards sustainable land resources management.