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abstracts
Land cover change in the Barekese River Basin of Ghana
Tyhra Carolyn Kumasi, Kwasi Obiri-Danso, J.H. Ephraim
The Barekese reservoir provides 80 percent of the total public pipe borne water to the Kumasi metropolis and its environs. However over the past two decades the Barekese river basin has seen persistent degradation through anthropogenic activities along its catchment area which also raises concern on the deteriorating water quality. The study examines the land cove change and assesses its impacts on the reservoir’s water quality and quantity. Data employed in estimating land cover change were extracted from two cloud-free LANDSAT Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) and one LANDSAT Thematic Mapper (TM) images obtained in 1973, 1986 and 2003. All the three images were registered to the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM), Zone 31 geographic projection. From 1973 to 1986 the closed forest decreased by 43.54% whereas the open forest increased by 52.91%. From 1986 to 2003, the open forest decreased extensively by 55.25% resulting in more grassland and open area/towns. The projections of the land cover change in Barekese catchment area reveal that vegetation cover will continue to experience a decline in area with a subsequent negative decline in closed forest in the year 2043 resulting in feedbacks in regional climate and weather. Conversely grassland and open area/towns will experience a swift rise in area from 2003 -2043 impacting on water resources. Unsustainable agricultural practices, bushfires, deforestation and encroachment of the Barekese reserve as a result of rural poverty and weak institutional mechanisms are the factors responsible for the degraded land cover impacting on quality and quantity of water in the Barekese basin.
Tyhra Carolyn Kumasi, Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology,PMB, University Post, Kumasi, Ghana, tyhracarolynkumasi@yahoo.co.uk
Kwasi Obiri-Danso, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, Kumasi, Ghana
J.H. Ephraim, Catholic University College of Ghana, Department of Chemistry, Sunyani, Ghana
Session: F4: Human-Climate-Ecosystem Interactions
Download Talk:
> YSM09_OralG_Kumasi.pdf
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