Abstract:
Understanding trends of land use land cover (LULC) changes is important for
biodiversity monitoring and conservation planning, and identifying the areas
affected by change and designing sustainable solutions to reduce the changes.
The study aims to evaluate and quantify the historical changes in land use and
land cover in Mukumbura (Ward 2), Mt Darwin, Zimbabwe, from 2002 to
2022. The objective of the study was to analyse the LULC changes in Ward 2
(Mukumbura), Mt Darwin, Northern Zimbabwe, for a period of 20 years using
geospatial techniques. Landsat satellite images were processed using Google
Earth Engine (GEE) and the supervised classification with maximum likelihood
algorithm was employed to generate LULC maps between 2002 and
2022 with a five (5) year interval, investigating the following variables, forest
cover, barren land, water cover and the fields. Findings revealed a substantial
reduction in forest cover by 38.8%, water bodies (wetlands, ponds, and rivers)
declined by 55.6%, whilst fields (crop/agricultural fields) increased by 93.3%
and the barren land cover increased by 26.3% from 2002 to 2022. These findings
point to substantial changes in LULC over the observed years. LULC
changes have resulted in habitat fragmentation, reduced biodiversity, and the
disruption of ecosystem functions. The study concludes that if these deforestation
trends, cultivation, and settlement land expansion continue, the ward will
have limited indigenous fruit trees. Therefore, the causes for LULC changes must be controlled, sustainable forest resources use practiced, hence the need
to domesticate the indigenous fruit trees in arborloo toilets.
