Impacts of Population Growth on Land Cover Change. Case of Nyanza District.

Abstract

Loss of biodiversity and pressures on ecosystem services are among the most pressing global challenges. At global scale, countries continue to convert land from its more natural state to more anthropogenic systems. In Nyanza district, land cover change over time. This study set out to assess the impacts of population growth on land cover change in Nyanza district. It aimed to analyze how land cover has been changing in the past twenty years, assess the trend of population and their effects on land cover and establish the relationship between population growth and land cover change. The study mapped land cover using GIS and Remote Sensing to detect changes during the period of 1999, 2009 and 2019. The maximum likelihood classification was applied to classify images into seven classes named built up, bare land, cropland, grassland, forest, wetland and water body. The quantities for land cover classes, accuracy for classification were calculated. It has been found that built up area, bare land, and cropland and water body has increased at a considerable rate; while grassland, forest and wetland have decreased. Moreover, population growth is the main driver of land cover change in Nyanza district. Rapid increase of human population put extraordinary pressure on natural resources. The study recommends awareness on family planning to slow the rate of population growth, promote land use planning and use spatial data in analysis so as to take effective decisions on a sustainable natural resources management including land and forests.
Key words: Population growth, GIS and Remote Sensing, Natural resources, Land cover change, Nyanza district.