INTEGRATION OF REMOTE SENSING AND GIS IN LANDUSE PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABLE NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT WITHIN THE MOUNT CAMEROON REGION-WEST AFRICAN.

摘要

Population growth in developing countries is a key factor to environmental degradation. The mount Cameroon region in West Africa is one of the sites where the equatorial rainforest is disappearing at a fast pace due to agricultural plantation expansion and urban development. We shall see how remote sensing data and GIS can contribute in finding solutions to pertinent problems in land use planning. The mount Cameroon is located at latitude 4 deg 10 and longitude 9 deg 20. It covers an area of 250.000 hectares with a variety of land use patterns. It is the highest peak in West Africa (4100m). There are many activities leading to environmental degradation carried by the local populations. It is for this reason that the government of Cameroon with assistance from international NGOs has created a project to develop and implement a landuse plan for the sustainable management of natural resources within the mount Cameroon region. There are many land cover types and a multiple of uncontrolled uses. The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) is the major stakeholder within the study area and occupies 85 374 hectares of land. Part of this land is developed with industrial agriculture, dwelling units, infrastructures and the other part is covered with rainforest for future plantation expansion. This creates a conflict between economic development and natural resource conservation. A base map of the project area was developed and all the land use patterns were mapped as individual thematic layers. Administrative boundaries, forests, plantations, settlements, coastal zones (mangroves), water courses, road network, soil type and wildlife. Significant achievement in participatory land use planning within the project region is from the result of remote sensing and GIS applications as is presented in this paper. The method of data acquisition and input in the GIS database will be discussed. The paper will also elucidate how GIS and remote sensing techniques are applied in urban planning, agriculture and nature conservation. Spatial data acquisition and dissemination methods will be discussed. All stakeholders interest were generated in thematic layers (overlays) in the GIS database and presented as maps used in planning meetings at village and regional levels. The land use map shows the best options as decided by the communities concerned; It responds to the following questions: (1) What should be done, the selected changes to land and where they should be implemented? Mapinfor 4.1 and ArcInfo Gis software were used to generate spatial solutions to these problems. Finally land is rationally used according to the plan conceived and agreed by all stakeholders and the resources are now managed for the benefit of the present and future generations.