USING REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES TO DETECT CHANGES TO THE PRINCE ALFRED HAMLET CONSERVATION AREA IN THE WESTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA
Understanding and identifying the spatial-temporal changes in the natural environment is crucial for monitoring and evaluating conservation efforts, as well as understanding the impact of human activities on natural resources, informing responsible land management, and promoting better decision-ma...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2016-06-01
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| Series: | The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences |
| Online Access: | https://www.int-arch-photogramm-remote-sens-spatial-inf-sci.net/XLI-B7/475/2016/isprs-archives-XLI-B7-475-2016.pdf |
| Summary: | Understanding and identifying the spatial-temporal changes in the natural environment is crucial for monitoring and evaluating
conservation efforts, as well as understanding the impact of human activities on natural resources, informing responsible land
management, and promoting better decision-making. Conservation areas are often under pressure from expanding farming and
related industry, invasive alien vegetation, and an ever-increasing human settlement footprint. This study focuses on detecting
changes to the Prince Alfred Hamlet commonage, near Ceres in the Cape Floral Kingdom. It was chosen for its high conservation
value and significance as a critical water source area. The study area includes a fast-growing human settlement footprint in a highly
productive farming landscape. There are conflicting development needs as well as risks to agricultural production, and both of these
threaten the integrity of the ecosystems which supply underlying services to both demands on the land. Using a multi-disciplinary
approach and high-resolution satellite imagery, land use and land cover changes can be detected and classified, and the results used
to support the conservation of biodiversity and wildlife, and protect our natural resources. The aim of this research is to study the
efficacy of using remote sensing and GIS techniques to detect changes to critical conservation areas where disturbances can be
understood, and therefore better managed and mitigated before these areas are degraded beyond repair. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1750 2194-9034 |