Spatial and Temporal Change of Land Cover in Protected Areas in Malawi: Implications for Conservation Management

Abstract

Protected areas (PAs) transform over time due to natural and anthropogenic processes, resulting in the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. As current and projected climatic trends are poised to pressurize the sustainability of PAs, analyses of the existing perturbations are crucial for providing valuable insights that will facilitate conservation management. In this study, land cover change, landscape characteristics, and spatiotemporal patterns of the vegetation intensity in the Kasungu National Park (area = 2445.10 km2) in Malawi were assessed using Landsat data (1997, 2008 and 2018) in a Fuzzy K-Means unsupervised classification. The findings reveal that a 21.12% forest cover loss occurred from 1997 to 2018: an average annual loss of 1.09%. Transition analyses of the land cover changes revealed that forest to shrubs conversion was the main form of land cover transition, while conversions from shrubs (3.51%) and bare land (3.48%) to forest over the two decades were comparatively lower, signifying a very low rate of forest regeneration. The remaining forest cover in the park was aggregated in a small land area with dissimilar landscape characteristics. Vegetation intensity and vigor were lower mainly in the eastern part of the park in 2018. The findings have implications for conservation management in the context of climate change and the growing demand for ecosystem services in forest-dependent localities.

Trends of Land Cover Change and Conservation Challenges of Grevy’s Zebra (Equus grevyi, Oustalet 1882) in Hallaydeghe Asebot Proposed National Park, Southeast Ethiopia

“…Our result confrms with the previous study of the authors in [51] that LCC from forest to shrub conversion was the main form of land cover transition observed in the Kasungu National Park of Malawi. In contrast to the current fndings, the study was conducted by the authors in [59] in Awash National Park and the grassland was expanded by 14.2% between 1972 and 1986 as well as by 10.5% of the study area during the entire study period .…”

“…Te results of the classifcation produced were acceptable accuracies (Table 7) and are generally compatible with prior studies involving Landsat image classifcation [51]. We identifed various land cover patterns in HAPNP after analyzing the change in land cover between 1990 and 2021.…”

Monitoring and simulating landscape changes: how do long-term changes in land use and long-term average climate affect regional biophysical conditions in southern Malawi?

“…These findings broadly corroborate the findings of Kpienbaareh et al ( 2022 ) and Palamuleni et al ( 2007 ) who demonstrated that the close association of LULC classes often leads to mixed pixels, particularly in savanna landscapes where habitats are spatially clustered and scattered and have gradual boundaries. Thus, in addition to Clinton et al ( 2010 ), who reported that classification inaccuracy is a resultant of poor classifier and/or poor segmentation, this study suggests that classification accuracy is also affected by spatial patterns in habitat (LULC) distribution.…”

“…Since 1990, these habitats have undergone significant degradation, mainly because of encroachment and deforestation (Bone et al, 2017 ; Kalipeni, 1992 ; Mawenda et al, 2020 ; Zulu, 2010 ). However, from 2015 onwards, the conservation areas have been undergoing restoration (Bone et al, 2017 ; Kpienbaareh et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Firstly, it has been established that anthropogenic activities are causing significant changes in the extent of grassland, forest, marsh, and water habitats (Ministry of Natural Resources Energy and Environment, 2010 ). This is mostly linked to land conversion for crop production, over-harvesting of wetland vegetation, construction, brick making, sand extraction, charcoal burning, and water diversion for cultivation (Bone et al, 2017 ; Gondwe et al, 2021 ; Kpienbaareh et al, 2022 ; Mawenda et al, 2020 ; Ministry of Natural Resources Energy and Environment, 2010 ; Ngwira & Watanabe, 2019 ). Secondly, it is well known that climatic vicissitudes are devastating lives and livelihoods of Malawi, with southern Malawi being the most affected region (Jørstad & Webersik, 2016 ; Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining, 2016 ).…”