Proposing Land Use/Cover Conservation Basing on Connectivity,Changes and Drivers over 20 Years in Incalaue River Basin,Niassa National Reserve in Mozambique

摘要

Landscape heterogeneity in biodiversity conservation areas can be represented by the size of the geographic range of vegetation cover types and their species composition;and is reflected in historical and contemporary LULC(Land Use/Cover).This study assesses LULC changes in a predominantly vegetated Incalaue river basin in NSR(Niassa Special Reserve)for the years 2001,2009 and 2019 to recommend conservation targets.LULC was mapped using the best available Landsat imagery of the area which were L7 EMT+(Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper),L5 TM(Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper)and L8 OLI(Landsat 8 Operational Land Imagery).Image classification and remote sensing analysis were done using images of 30-meter resolution using the maximum likelihood supervised classification on ArcGIS ArcMap 10.4.1.Results showed that there were gains in area coverfor taller vegetation classes with the major ones being MDW(Medium Density Woodland)which increased by 51.07%;MFS(Mountain Forests)by 36.41%;and HDW(High-Density Woodland)by 17.95%over the studied period.NDVI(Normalized Difference Vegetation Index)maps show 2019 with wetter vegetation than 2001;and both wetter than 2009.The spatially dominant vegetation-class was MDW(Medium Density Woodland)covering 27.29%of the basin area largely in the elevation band 410-430 m a.s.l.Vegetation classes do not necessarily follow landform with rocky upstream section(440-510 m a.s.l)having MFS which also existed in lower altitude areas(370-430 m a.s.l);and woodland being randomly distributed across the basin while there was also WET(Wetland)in both upstream and downstream.There are multiple vegetation species localized in distribution in the landscape which makes these to be hotspot areas for conservation.Local people in the human settlement areas of Ntimbo 1 and Lizongole recognize vulnerability of ecosystems,environmental change as well as human land use/cover and climate change as the main threats.There was a large increase in human settlement area(104.17%)over the study period and this shows a need for mitigating community-wildlife conflict especially along the green vegetation riverine areas during the dry seasons.The study showed need for a plan for human LULC away from wildlife vegetation hotspot areas;identification and consideration of area-demanding threatened species that require landscape scale conservation;and prevention of degradation and loss of water source hotspots for wildlife as well as conservation of sensitive and localized vegetation species.The Mozambican land law allows individual ownership of land by citizens even in conservation areas which creates a danger of human-wildlife interactions;risks land encroachment deeper into the reserve;and potentially causing environmentaldegradingof this sensitive ecosystem hosting humans and wildlife so there is need for consistent and conservation targetedenvironmental research to inform policy and LULC decisions.