TITLE:
Land Use/Land Cover Dynamics and Anthropogenic Driving Factors in Lake Baringo Catchment, Rift Valley, Kenya
AUTHORS:
Molly Ochuka, Chris Ikporukpo, Yahaya Mijinyawa, George Ogendi
KEYWORDS:
Land Use/Land Cover, Catchment, Anthropogenic Factors, Land Management
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Resources,
Vol.10 No.10,
October
11,
2019
ABSTRACT:
Anthropogenic activities have altered land cover in
Lake Baringo Catchment contributing to increased erosion and sediment transport
into water bodies. The study aims at analyzing the spatial and
temporal Land Use and Land Cover Changes (LULCC) changes from 1988 to 2018 and
to identify the main driving forces. GIS and Remote Sensing techniques,
interviews and field observations were used
to analyze the changes and drivers of LULCC from 1988-2018. The
satellite imagery was selected from SPOT Image for the years 1988, 1998, 2008
and 2018. Environment for Visualizing Images (ENVI 5.3) was used to perform
image analysis and classification. The catchment was classified into six major
LULC classes which are water bodies, settlement, rangeland, vegetation,
farmland and bare land. The results
revealed that, between the years
1988-1998, and 1998-2008, water bodies decreased by 2.77% and 0.76%
respectively. However, during the years 2008-2018, water body coverage increased by 1.87%. Forest
cover steadily increased from 1988-2018. From 1988-1998, 1998-2008
and 2008-2018, farmland was increased by 21.11%, 3.21% and
1.7% while rangeland decreased continuously between the years 1988-1998,
1998-2008 and 2008-2018 in the order 15.14%, 4.13% and 3.74% respectively.
Similarly, bare land also reduced by 1.75%, 1.04% and 0.99% between the years
1988-1998, 1998-2008 and 2008-2018 respectively. The findings attributed LULCC
to rapid population growth, deforestation, poor farming practices and
overstocking. The results will provide valuable information to the relevant
stakeholders to formulate evidence-based land use management strategies in
order to achieve ecological integrity.