Spatio -temporal Analyses of Land Use Cover dynamics in a Coastal Savanna Wetland, Ghana

Abstract

The Muni-Pomadzi wetland is vulnerable to degradation. It is therefore imperative to understand the spatio-temporal dynamics of Land Use Land Cover within this Ramsar site, particularly for management purposes. The study assessed dynamics in the Muni-Pomadzi catchment between 2000 and 2010 and investigates the relationship between the major Land Use Land Cover changes and biophysical factors that influence land use decisions. An orthophoto of May 2005, Landsat TM and ETM data of December 2000 and February 2010 were analyzed to produce land Use Land Cover maps for the Muni-Pomadzi wetland. The overall accuracy of the classification was 85.7% and 81.2% for the Land Use Land Cover map of 2000 and 2010 respectively. Post-classification change detection was applied to produce a change map and matrix, which aided the analysis of Land Use Land Cover dynamics. During the 10 year period, various Land Use Land Cover units such as farm fields, rangeland, built-up, and barren-land increased in physical extent. However, closed forest, open forest, and water reduced. Altitude, distance to roads, rivers, and settlement were significant in explaining deforestation and afforestation in the catchment.

Keywords: Land use land cover; remote sensing; geographic information systems; logistic regression; Wetlands; Ghana