Department of Geography

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Browsing Department of Geography by Author "Busolo, Paul"

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    Effects of land use and land cover change on people’s livelihoods in Kira municipality, central Uganda
    (Kyambogo University [unpublished work], 2023-07) Busolo, Paul
    Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) changes have been experienced globally due to pressure from the ever-increasing human populations and environmental conditions associated with climate change and the resultant effects on livelihoods derived thereof. This study investigated LULC Change on people’s livelihoods in Kira Municipality, Central Uganda. Specifically, the study was set to; (i) determine the extent of LULC Change in Kira Municipality between 2000 and 2021, (ii) establish the perceived drivers of LULC Change and, (iii) assess the impact of LULC Change on people’s livelihood types in Kira Municipality. Landsat 7 and 8 images were accessed and downloaded from the United States Geological Survey’s earth explorer portal and were used for determining LULC Changes for three periods (2000, 2011 & 2021). The obtained images were taken through pre-processing, processing and post-processing steps in Arc GIS 10.4 software. For LULC Change analysis, a supervised maximum livelihood classification and discriminate analysis computations were done. Additionally, the socio-economic field data was collected from purposively selected households in the study area for analysis of the perceived drivers of LULC Change and their impact on people’s livelihood types. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis techniques. The results revealed a marked Change in LULC between 2000 and 2021 with a wide increase in the built-up land (33.5%), a decline in wetland, farmland and forest land. The Change in LULC, were largely driven by demographic and institutional factors related to rapidly growing population and limited supervision respectively. These fueled intensification of settlements, industrial and infrastructural developments. Furthermore, LULC Change impacted on livelihoods by influencing human livelihood types which were largely positive because they are the greatest employers of the majority of the population and so sustaining numerous lives in this Municipality. Such types of livelihoods were mainly transportation, building and construction and trade work/services. It is concluded that there were significant Changes in LULC in Kira Municipality in the last two decades, driven by increase in human populations in this area. It is therefore recommended that vertical development is embraced to check on the escalating urban population and also regulate Land Uses in ecologically sensitive ecosystems like wetlands and forests in this area that are associated with habitant losses in terms of land and its resources.