Patterns of land use, crop and forest cover change in the Ashanti region, Ghana

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael O. Asibey ◽  
Kwasi O. Agyeman ◽  
Owusu Amponsah ◽  
Theophilus Ansah
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Forest Cover Change ◽  
Ashanti Region

scholarly journals Qualifying Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics and Their Impacts on Ecosystem Service in Central Himalaya Transboundary Landscape Based on Google Earth Engine

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Changjun Gu ◽  
Yili Zhang ◽  
Linshan Liu ◽  
Lanhui Li ◽  
Shicheng Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Forest Cover Change ◽  
Sacred Landscape ◽  
Lulc Changes ◽  
Google Earth Engine

Land use and land cover (LULC) changes are regarded as one of the key drivers of ecosystem services degradation, especially in mountain regions where they may provide various ecosystem services to local livelihoods and surrounding areas. Additionally, ecosystems and habitats extend across political boundaries, causing more difficulties for ecosystem conservation. LULC in the Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL) has undergone obvious changes over the past four decades; however, the spatiotemporal changes of the LULC across the whole of the KSL are still unclear, as well as the effects of LULC changes on ecosystem service values (ESVs). Thus, in this study we analyzed LULC changes across the whole of the KSL between 2000 and 2015 using Google Earth Engine (GEE) and quantified their impacts on ESVs. The greatest loss in LULC was found in forest cover, which decreased from 5443.20 km2 in 2000 to 5003.37 km2 in 2015 and which mainly occurred in KSL-Nepal. Meanwhile, the largest growth was observed in grassland (increased by 548.46 km2), followed by cropland (increased by 346.90 km2), both of which mainly occurred in KSL-Nepal. Further analysis showed that the expansions of cropland were the major drivers of the forest cover change in the KSL. Furthermore, the conversion of cropland to shrub land indicated that farmland abandonment existed in the KSL during the study period. The observed forest degradation directly influenced the ESV changes in the KSL. The total ESVs in the KSL decreased from 36.53 × 108 USD y−1 in 2000 to 35.35 × 108 USD y−1 in 2015. Meanwhile, the ESVs of the forestry areas decreased by 1.34 × 108 USD y−1. This shows that the decrease of ESVs in forestry was the primary cause to the loss of total ESVs and also of the high elasticity. Our findings show that even small changes to the LULC, especially in forestry areas, are noteworthy as they could induce a strong ESV response.

scholarly journals Uncertainty in Historical Land-Use Reconstructions with Topographic Maps

2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Kaim ◽  
Jacek Kozak ◽  
Krzysztof Ostafin ◽  
Monika Dobosz ◽  
Katarzyna Ostapowicz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Reliability Assessment ◽  
Swiss Alps ◽  
Topographic Maps ◽  
Forest Cover Change ◽  
Change Analysis ◽  
Polish Carpathians ◽  
Historical Land Use

Abstract The paper presents the outcomes of the uncertainty investigation of a long-term forest cover change analysis in the Polish Carpathians (nearly 20,000 km2) and Swiss Alps (nearly 10,000 km2) based on topographic maps. Following Leyk et al. (2005) all possible uncertainties are grouped into three domains - production-oriented, transformation- oriented and application-oriented. We show typical examples for each uncertainty domain, encountered during the forest cover change analysis and discuss consequences for change detection. Finally, a proposal for reliability assessment is presented.

scholarly journals Approaches of Satellite Remote Sensing for the Assessment of Above-Ground Biomass across Tropical Forests: Pan-tropical to National Scales

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 3351
Author(s):  
Sawaid Abbas ◽  
Man Sing Wong ◽  
Jin Wu ◽  
Naeem Shahzad ◽  
Syed Muhammad Irteza
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Tropical Forest ◽  
Tropical Forests ◽  
Satellite Remote Sensing ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Above Ground Biomass ◽  
Forest Cover Change ◽  
Ground Biomass

Tropical forests are acknowledged for providing important ecosystem services and are renowned as “the lungs of the planet Earth” due to their role in the exchange of gasses—particularly inhaling CO2 and breathing out O2—within the atmosphere. Overall, the forests provide 50% of the total plant biomass of the Earth, which accounts for 450–650 PgC globally. Understanding and accurate estimates of tropical forest biomass stocks are imperative in ascertaining the contribution of the tropical forests in global carbon dynamics. This article provides a review of remote-sensing-based approaches for the assessment of above-ground biomass (AGB) across the tropical forests (global to national scales), summarizes the current estimate of pan-tropical AGB, and discusses major advancements in remote-sensing-based approaches for AGB mapping. The review is based on the journal papers, books and internet resources during the 1980s to 2020. Over the past 10 years, a myriad of research has been carried out to develop methods of estimating AGB by integrating different remote sensing datasets at varying spatial scales. Relationships of biomass with canopy height and other structural attributes have developed a new paradigm of pan-tropical or global AGB estimation from space-borne satellite remote sensing. Uncertainties in mapping tropical forest cover and/or forest cover change are related to spatial resolution; definition adapted for ‘forest’ classification; the frequency of available images; cloud covers; time steps used to map forest cover change and post-deforestation land cover land use (LCLU)-type mapping. The integration of products derived from recent Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) satellite missions with conventional optical satellite images has strong potential to overcome most of these uncertainties for recent or future biomass estimates. However, it will remain a challenging task to map reference biomass stock in the 1980s and 1990s and consequently to accurately quantify the loss or gain in forest cover over the periods. Aside from these limitations, the estimation of biomass and carbon balance can be enhanced by taking account of post-deforestation forest recovery and LCLU type; land-use history; diversity of forest being recovered; variations in physical attributes of plants (e.g., tree height; diameter; and canopy spread); environmental constraints; abundance and mortalities of trees; and the age of secondary forests. New methods should consider peak carbon sink time while developing carbon sequestration models for intact or old-growth tropical forests as well as the carbon sequestration capacity of recovering forest with varying levels of floristic diversity.

scholarly journals Tracking Forest Change and Development Using Low-Cost Remote Sensing Imagery and GIS Integration

2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 148-155
Author(s):  
Nathan A. Briggs ◽  
Steven A. Sader
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Forest Cover Change ◽  
Visual Interpretation ◽  
Forest Change ◽  
Remote Sensing Imagery ◽  
High Resolution Images

Abstract Conversion of forestland to other uses is occurring in Maine as growing human populations and desire for second homes are exerting development pressures on privately owned forestland. This study was performed to assess forest cover change and conversion to developed uses in a 636,000-hastudy area in Maine. A three-date time series (2000, 2002, and 2006) of Landsat Thematic Mapper data was analyzed to detect forest cover losses, and overall mapping accuracy was determined to be 91%. Forest cover losses (percentage per year) were aggregated for 81 townships and reported foreach time sequence. Rates of forest cover loss differ among townships and for the same township in different time periods. Visual interpretation of forestland conversion using high-resolution images for a subsample of 24 townships showed that 305 of 4,716 harvested forest hectares (6.47%)was converted to developed uses. The study demonstrates the practical use of low-cost remote-sensing imagery and routine interpretation methods for accurate tracking of forest change and quantification of land use conversion. The methods are adaptable to other states to assist decisionmakersin assessing regional and local land use and planning forest conservation measures.

scholarly journals Land Use Change Detection and Prediction in Upper Siem Reap River, Cambodia

Hydrology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kosal Chim ◽  
Jon Tunnicliffe ◽  
Asaad Shamseldin ◽  
Tetsuji Ota
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Forest Cover Change ◽  
Siem Reap ◽  
Temple Complex ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
The People ◽  
The Future

Siem Reap River has played a crucial role in maintaining the Angkor temple complex and livelihood of the people in the basin since the 12th century. Land use in this watershed has changed considerably over the last few decades, which is thought to have had an influence on river. This study was carried out as part of assessing the land use and climate change on hydrology of the upper Siem Reap River. The objective was to reconstruct patterns of annual deforestation from 1988 to 2018 and to explore scenarios of land use 40 and 80 years into the future. A supervised maximum likelihood classification was applied to investigate forest cover change in the last three decades. Multi-layer perceptron neural network-Markov chain (MLPNN-MC) was used to forecast land use and land cover (LULC) change for the years 2058 and 2098. The results show that there has been a significantly decreasing trend in forest cover at the rate 1.22% over the last three decades, and there would be a continuous upward trend of deforestation and downward trend of forest cover in the future. This study emphasizes the impacts of land use change on water supply for the Angkor temple complex (World Heritage Site) and the surrounding population.

scholarly journals Implementation of REDD+ in sub-Saharan Africa: state of knowledge, challenges and opportunities

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
MATIEU HENRY ◽  
DANAE MANIATIS ◽  
VINCENT GITZ ◽  
DAVID HUBERMAN ◽  
RICCARDO VALENTINI
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Carbon Stock ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Forest Carbon ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Forest Cover Change ◽  
Forest Carbon Stock ◽  
Sub Saharan

ABSTRACTDeforestation and forest degradation represent an important part of global CO2 emissions. The identification of the multiple drivers of land-use change, past and present forest cover change and associated carbon budget, and the presence of locally adapted systems to allow for proper monitoring are particularly lacking in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Any incentive system to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) will have to overcome those limits. This paper reviews the main challenges to implementing effective REDD+ mitigation activities in SSA. We estimate that SSA is currently a net carbon sink of approximately 319 TgCO2 yr−1. Forest degradation and deforestation put the forest carbon stock at risk (mean forest carbon stock is 57,679 TgC). Our results highlight the importance of looking beyond the forest sector to ensure that REDD+ efforts are aligned with agricultural and land-use policies.

scholarly journals Storage-Discharge Relationships under Forest Cover Change in Ethiopian Highlands

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 2310
Author(s):  
Solomon Gebreyohannis Gebrehiwot ◽  
Lutz Breuer ◽  
Steve W. Lyon
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover Change ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Forest Cover Change ◽  
Reservoir Model ◽  
Increasing Trend ◽  
Forest Cover Changes ◽  
Linear Reservoir ◽  
Meso Scale

Detecting the impacts of forest cover changes on hydrology is challenging given uncertainties in how changes will manifest in observed streamflow. Considering changes in the rate of change of observed streamflow (e.g., recession characteristics) may offer insights to hydrological shifts driven by forest cover change that are not seen when considering absolute changes of streamflow itself. This study assesses the impacts of forest cover changes on the storage–discharge relationships in three meso-scale watersheds in the highlands of Ethiopia based on a 30-year hydro-climatic and land cover change dataset. We analyze streamflow recessions and fitted parameters of a linear reservoir model to depict fundamental shifts in the storage–discharge relation for these watersheds. Our analysis shows that recession slopes and the total storages increase as natural forest covers decrease in the 273 km2 Woshi-Dimbira and 1980 km2 Upper-Didesa watersheds. The linear reservoir model storage coefficient parameter shows an increasing trend with time for the 41 km2 Sokoru watershed which is afforested, indicating faster drainage and reduction in storage. Our work highlights that considering storage–discharge relationships may be useful for assessing the impacts of forest cover change on water resources in regions where land use change is active and rapid.

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