Impacts on the Urban Environment: Land Cover Change Trajectories and Landscape Fragmentation in Post-War Western Area, Sierra Leone
An influential underlying driver of human-induced landscape change is civil war and other forms of conflict that cause human displacement. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) increase environmental pressures at their destination locations while reducing them at their origins. This increased pressure...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2018-01-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/1/129 |
| _version_ | 1798018473614376960 |
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| author | Solomon Peter Gbanie Amy L. Griffin Alec Thornton |
| author_facet | Solomon Peter Gbanie Amy L. Griffin Alec Thornton |
| author_sort | Solomon Peter Gbanie |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | An influential underlying driver of human-induced landscape change is civil war and other forms of conflict that cause human displacement. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) increase environmental pressures at their destination locations while reducing them at their origins. This increased pressure presents an environment for increased land cover change (LCC) rates and landscape fragmentation. To test whether this hypothesis is correct, this research sought to understand LCC dynamics in the Western Area of Sierra Leone from 1976 to 2011, a period including pre-conflict, conflict, and post-conflict eras, using Landsat and SPOT satellite imagery. A trajectory analysis of classified images compared LCC trajectories before and during the war (1976–2000) with after the war (2003–2011). Over the 35-year period, the built-up land class rapidly increased, in parallel with an increase in urban and peri-urban agriculture. During the war, urban and peri-urban agriculture became a major livelihood activity for displaced rural residents to make the region food self-sufficient, especially when the war destabilised food production activities. The reluctance of IDPs to return to their rural homes after the war caused an increased demand for land driven by housing needs. Meanwhile, protected forest and other forest declined. A significant finding to emerge from this research is that landscape fragmentation increased in conjunction with declining forest cover while built-up areas aggregated. This has important implications for the region’s flora, fauna, and human populations given that other research has shown that landscape fragmentation affects the landscape’s ability to provide important ecosystem services. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T16:23:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7bffb437313643dbb4d476c3731f22d7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T16:23:21Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-7bffb437313643dbb4d476c3731f22d72022-12-22T04:14:14ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922018-01-0110112910.3390/rs10010129rs10010129Impacts on the Urban Environment: Land Cover Change Trajectories and Landscape Fragmentation in Post-War Western Area, Sierra LeoneSolomon Peter Gbanie0Amy L. Griffin1Alec Thornton2School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, University of New South Wales Canberra, PO Box 7916, Campbell, ACT 2612, AustraliaSchool of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, University of New South Wales Canberra, PO Box 7916, Campbell, ACT 2612, AustraliaSchool of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, University of New South Wales Canberra, PO Box 7916, Campbell, ACT 2612, AustraliaAn influential underlying driver of human-induced landscape change is civil war and other forms of conflict that cause human displacement. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) increase environmental pressures at their destination locations while reducing them at their origins. This increased pressure presents an environment for increased land cover change (LCC) rates and landscape fragmentation. To test whether this hypothesis is correct, this research sought to understand LCC dynamics in the Western Area of Sierra Leone from 1976 to 2011, a period including pre-conflict, conflict, and post-conflict eras, using Landsat and SPOT satellite imagery. A trajectory analysis of classified images compared LCC trajectories before and during the war (1976–2000) with after the war (2003–2011). Over the 35-year period, the built-up land class rapidly increased, in parallel with an increase in urban and peri-urban agriculture. During the war, urban and peri-urban agriculture became a major livelihood activity for displaced rural residents to make the region food self-sufficient, especially when the war destabilised food production activities. The reluctance of IDPs to return to their rural homes after the war caused an increased demand for land driven by housing needs. Meanwhile, protected forest and other forest declined. A significant finding to emerge from this research is that landscape fragmentation increased in conjunction with declining forest cover while built-up areas aggregated. This has important implications for the region’s flora, fauna, and human populations given that other research has shown that landscape fragmentation affects the landscape’s ability to provide important ecosystem services.http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/1/129urban agricultureland cover change trajectorylandscape fragmentationlandscape metricsSierra LeoneWestern AreaLandsat |
| spellingShingle | Solomon Peter Gbanie Amy L. Griffin Alec Thornton Impacts on the Urban Environment: Land Cover Change Trajectories and Landscape Fragmentation in Post-War Western Area, Sierra Leone Remote Sensing urban agriculture land cover change trajectory landscape fragmentation landscape metrics Sierra Leone Western Area Landsat |
| title | Impacts on the Urban Environment: Land Cover Change Trajectories and Landscape Fragmentation in Post-War Western Area, Sierra Leone |
| title_full | Impacts on the Urban Environment: Land Cover Change Trajectories and Landscape Fragmentation in Post-War Western Area, Sierra Leone |
| title_fullStr | Impacts on the Urban Environment: Land Cover Change Trajectories and Landscape Fragmentation in Post-War Western Area, Sierra Leone |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impacts on the Urban Environment: Land Cover Change Trajectories and Landscape Fragmentation in Post-War Western Area, Sierra Leone |
| title_short | Impacts on the Urban Environment: Land Cover Change Trajectories and Landscape Fragmentation in Post-War Western Area, Sierra Leone |
| title_sort | impacts on the urban environment land cover change trajectories and landscape fragmentation in post war western area sierra leone |
| topic | urban agriculture land cover change trajectory landscape fragmentation landscape metrics Sierra Leone Western Area Landsat |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/1/129 |
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