Land Use and Land Cover Change Detection in Rural Areas of River Lwiro Micro-catchment, Lake Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo
M. Bagalwa *
Makerere University, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, P.O.Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda and Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles de Lwiro, D. R. Congo.
J. G. M. Majaliwa
Makerere University, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, P.O.Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
F. Kansiime
Makerere University, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, P.O.Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
S. Bashwira
Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles de Lwiro, D. R. Congo and Université Catholique de Bukavu, B.P. 285, Bukavu, D. R. Congo.
M. Tenywa
Makerere University, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, P.O.Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
K. Karume
Observatoire Volcanologique de Goma, Goma, D. R. Congo and Université Evangélique en Afrique, Faculté d’agronomie et Environnement, B.P. 3323 Bukavu, République Démocratique du Congo.
E. Adipala
Regional University Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), Kampala, Uganda.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Land use and land cover change in River Lwiro micro-catchment was assessed for the period 1987-2010 using satellite imagery of Landsat 5 and 7. Images were clustered into four categories: forest, built-up areas, wetland and small scale farmland area; using unsupervised classification approach. The generated land-use and cover layers were ground truthed and the accuracy of classification determined. The results show that forest cover has declined by 23%, and wetland area increased by 2%, small scale farmland by less than 1% and the residential areas by 2.3%. The different trends of change indicated that the micro-catchment has been affected by political instability in the region. The possible environmental impacts resulting from these change need to be identified.
Keywords: Land use and land cover, Lwiro watershed, rural area, GIS