Effects of Post Eviction Resettlement on Land-Use and Cover Change in Uganda’s Oil Exploration Areas
Open Access
- 1 January 2017
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Scientific Research Publishing, Inc. in Journal of Environmental Protection
- Vol. 08 (10), 1144-1157
- https://doi.org/10.4236/jep.2017.810072
Abstract
Evaluation of the changes in land use and land cover change (LULCC) in respect to oil exploration across the Albertine region in Uganda has been focused around the exploration areas and protected areas, with no attention to the potential impacts of evictees’ activities on resettled areas. This study used LANDSAT images to analyze the land use and land cover changes (LULCC) among the period before eviction (2002 and 2005) at the climax of eviction and resettlements (2005-2011), and during the post-resettlement period (2011-2015) to quantify the impacts of resettlements on the environment. LANDSAT images were processed using ERDAS IMAGINE software and analyzed using ArcGIS 10.1 to determine LULCC in relation to post-eviction resettlement in the study area. Results from the study indicate. The results of the study indicate that vegetation reduced by 33.08 percent, woodland were converted into settlements by 48 percent while farmlands increased by 18.3 percent. Non vegetated areas increased during resettlements however they reduced five years after eviction which indicated the ability of the ecosystem to stabilize. The study proved that post eviction induced resettlements can yield potential environmental effects to resettled areas. It is important therefore to plan and implement other means of additional source of income and construction materials for evictees to abate vegetation clearance and hence rescue the woodland. The study also recommends maintenance of an optimum population and well-planned pre eviction resettlement schemes.Keywords
This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit:
- Topographic and spectral data resolve land cover misclassification to distinguish and monitor wetlands in western UgandaISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 2014
- Spatio-temporal dynamics of forage and land cover changes in Karamoja sub-region, UgandaPastoralism, 2014
- Land Use and Land Cover Changes and Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Anopheline Larval Habitats during a Four-Year Period in a Highland Community of AfricaThe American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2009
- Density and species diversity of trees in four tropical forests of the Albertine rift, western UgandaDiversity and Distributions, 2004
- Land Use and Land Cover Change After Agricultural AbandonmentMountain Research and Development, 2003
- Vegetation dynamics in central Africa since 18,000 yr BP: pollen records from the interlacustrine highlands of Burundi, Rwanda and western UgandaJournal of Biogeography, 1997