Trends in land use and land cover change in the protected and communal areas of the Zambezi Region, Namibia

Abstract

Land management decisions have extensively modified land use and land cover in the Zambezi Region. These decisions are influenced by land tenure classifications, legislation, and livelihoods. Land use and land cover change is an important indicator for quantifying the effectiveness of different land management strategies. However, there has been no evidence on whether protected or communal land tenure is more affected by land use and land cover changes in southern Africa and particularly Namibia. Our study attempted to fill this gap by analyzing the relationship between land use and land cover change and land tenure regimes stratified according to protected and communal area in the Zambezi Region. Multi-temporal Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery were used to determine the temporal dynamics of land use and land cover change from 1984 to 2010. The landscape showed distinctive modifications over the study period; broad trends include the increase in forest land after 1991. However, changes were not uniform across the study areas. Two landscape development stages were deduced: (1) 1984-1991 represented high deforestation and gradual increase in shrub land; (2) 1991-2000 and 2000-2010 represented lower deforestation and slower agropastoral expansion. The results further show clear patterns of the dynamics, magnitude, and direction of land use and land cover change by tenure regime. The study concluded that land tenure has a direct impact on land use and land cover, since it may restrict some activities carried out on the land in the Zambezi Region.

Historical Trajectory in Vegetation Cover in Northeastern Namibia Based on AVHRR Satellite Imagery (1982–2015)

“…Since Australia and Namibia have a similar dry environment, TSS-RESTREND is very suitable. Using TSS-RESTREND to assess vegetation cover change is unique and provides results that differ from previous studies considered by this study [16][17][18][19].…”

“…We provide a detailed discussion of the potential factors driving vegetation cover change in Section 3.2. Our findings regarding the overall trajectory of vegetation cover resonate with similar results by de Blécourt 2018 et.al., and Kamwi et. al.…”

“…The negative impact of the reduction in vegetation cover is already being felt in the Kavango and Zambezi Regions in the northeast of the country [3,15]. For example, studies in the Zambezi Region all reported different forms of vegetation cover change (gains and losses) [16][17][18][19]. To address land degradation, the government launched Namibia's Programme to Combat Desertification (NAPCOD) in 1994, after the country became a signatory to the international Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) in the same year [20].…”

“…In this study we characterize the historical trajectory of the vegetation trend for the 34 years (1982-2015) in the Zambezi Region (formerly Caprivi) of northeastern Namibia. The region has the largest savannah woodland cover in the country [13], comprising a mixture of trees, shrubs, and grasses [17,19]. The region is very important for agriculture due to its fertile soils and high rainfall [19].…”

“…The region is very important for agriculture due to its fertile soils and high rainfall [19]. Current historical vegetation-related studies in the region are mainly forest inventories [21,22] or categorical in nature [16,17,19]. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, there are no studies characterizing the general trajectory of the region's vegetation trend.…”