ABSTRACT LAND COVER CHANGE IN A SAVANNA ENVIRONMENT. A CASE STUDY OF BAWKU MUNICIPAL by Kwame Adusei Savanna environments currently are undergoing rapid changes. A key debate is whether these observed changes are of anthropogenic activities or simply seasonal or climatic variations. This study mapped and assessed land cover change in the Bawku Municipal through the application of remote sensing and GIS. Multi-date Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images acquired in 1989 and 2009 were used to characterize and assess the pattern of land cover change through a post- classification comparison. The results indicated 33% loss of forest cover, while bare fields increased by 68% and settlement increasing by 331%. Human activities like intensive cultivation and harvesting of wooded resources as fuel for both commercial and domestic use were the principal influence of the changes observed. The results also confirm findings of similar and earlier studies in the region indicating efforts to address the problem are not comprehensive enough. LAND COVER CHANGE IN A SAVANNA ENVIRONMENT. A CASE STUDY OF BAWKU MUNICIPAL A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Geography by Kwame Adusei Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2014 Advisor_______________________________ (Dr. Mary C. Henry) Reader________________________________ (Dr. John K. Maingi) Reader________________________________ (Robbyn J. F. Abbitt) Table of Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................... i LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER ONE ......................................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 1 STUDY OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................................... 2 JUSTIFICATION ................................................................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................................................ 5 LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................................................... 5 LAND COVER CHANGE ..................................................................................................................... 5 Causes of Land Cover Change ........................................................................................................... 5 DIGITAL CHANGE DETECTION ...................................................................................................... 6 Data acquisition and preprocessing ................................................................................................... 7 Image Classification ............................................................................................................................ 7 Change Detection Techniques ............................................................................................................ 9 Accuracy Assessment ........................................................................................................................ 10 CHAPTER THREE .................................................................................................................................. 11 METHODS ............................................................................................................................................ 11 STUDY AREA ....................................................................................................................................... 11 DATA ..................................................................................................................................................... 13 Satellite Images .................................................................................................................................. 13 Preparation before Field Work ....................................................................................................... 14 Field Sampling ................................................................................................................................... 14 Field Data Collection ........................................................................................................................ 14 Ancillary Data ................................................................................................................................... 15 Image Enhancement ......................................................................................................................... 15 LAND COVER MAPPING .................................................................................................................. 18 Classification Scheme ....................................................................................................................... 18 Image classification ........................................................................................................................... 20 ii Classification Accuracy Assessment ................................................................................................ 22 Change Detection .............................................................................................................................. 23 CHAPTER FOUR ..................................................................................................................................... 24 RESULTS ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ...................................................................................... 24 LAND COVER MAPPING RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................ 24 1989 Landsat TM Multi-date Image classification ........................................................................ 24 2009 Landsat TM Multi-date Image Classification ....................................................................... 26 Accuracy Assessment Results and Discussion ................................................................................ 29 CHANGE DETECTION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ................................................................ 30 Post Classification Comparison ....................................................................................................... 30 Land Cover Change Causes ............................................................................................................. 33 Vegetation Loss ................................................................................................................................. 36 CHAPTER FIVE ...................................................................................................................................... 39 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................ 39 SUMMARY OF RESULTS ................................................................................................................. 39 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 40 RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................................................................................... 41 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................... 42 iii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Landsat images used in the study ................................................................................... 13 Table 2: Percentage information contained in the standard principal components produced from the satellite images ........................................................................................................................ 18 Table 3: Land cover classification scheme ................................................................................... 19 Table 4: Area and percentage area covered by each land cover class in 1989 ............................. 26 Table 5: Area and percentage area covered by each land cover class in 2009 ............................. 26 Table 6: 2009 land cover map error matrix .................................................................................. 29 Table 7: 1989 land cover map error matrix .................................................................................. 30 Table 8: Land cover change matrix for 1989 and 2009 land cover maps ..................................... 31 Table 9: Land cover changes between 1989 and 2009 ................................................................. 31 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Map of Study Area .....................................................................................................................