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Abstract
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Article Information:
Land cover dynamics in Wa Municipality, Upper West Region of Ghana
M.S. Aduah and R. Aabeyir
Corresponding Author: Michael Soakodan Aduah
Submitted: March 31, 2012
Accepted: April 30, 2012
Published: June 30, 2012 |
Abstract:
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Land cover change is pervasive in urban areas and can destabilise the ecosystem with negative
consequences. To manage land effectively and to protect its cover, there is the need for a reliable inventory.
GIS and remote sensing technology has become a standard in producing land cover maps worldwide. Therefore,
in this study GIS and remote sensing was used to map the land cover of Wa Municipality of the Upper West
Region of Ghana. Two Landsat 5 images of 1986 and 2011 were used. The images were pre-processed, subset
to the study area and classified using the maximum likelihood classification algorithm. The map accuracies for
the classes of interest; built-up, bare land and vegetation were not less than 70%. The land cover maps
generated indicated that built-up area has increased by 34% whiles total size of bare land has increased by 47%
from 1986 to 2011.These increases have reduced the total area of vegetated land by 10%. Therefore, if the
current rate of degradation is not controlled, biodiversity of Wa and its surrounding areas would be lost in the
near future. Also the degradation can intensify floods and droughts and other effects of climate change. The
current study has demonstrated the effectiveness of GIS and remote sensing in studying environmental changes
taking place in semi-arid regions. The application of remote sensing technologies should be intensified
especially in the developing world to continue to provide vital data needed to manage the environment in a
sustainable manner.
Key words: GIS, land cover, landsat, remote sensing, Wa, ,
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Cite this Reference:
M.S. Aduah and R. Aabeyir, . Land cover dynamics in Wa Municipality, Upper West Region of Ghana. Research Journal of Environmental and Earth Sciences, (06): 658-664.
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ISSN (Online): 2041-0492
ISSN (Print): 2041-0484 |
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