Spatio-temporal Dynamics of Land use in Lake Ecosystems in the Sudano-Guinean Zone (Adamaoua-Cameroon)

Abstract

The present study aims to characterize over 31 years between 1990 and 2021 the spatio-temporal mutations experienced by four lake ecosystems in the Sudano-Guinean zone of Cameroon due to strong anthropic activities caused by the increase of the demography. Landsat satellite images from 1990, 2006 and 2021 were exploited using remote sensing and GIS. The unsupervised classification was used to obtain nine land cover and land use classes (agricultural space, forest gallery, tree savannah, shrub savannah, grassy savannah, bare soil, water surface, hydromorphic zone and housing zone). The dynamics are progressive for the agricultural space (24.40 ha at Lake Bini, 24.38 ha at Lake Dang, and 16.72 ha at Lake Mballang). On the other hand, The dynamics of the plant formations is essentially regressive for the shrubby savannahs (16.21 ha at Lake Bini, 30.56 ha at Lake Dang, 118.13 at Lake Mballang and - 9.67 ha at Lake Ngaoundaba). The water surface area decreased in the lake ecosystems of Bini (0.27 ha) and Mballang (0.04). In contrast, there was an increase in the lake ecosystems of Lake Dang (0.40 ha) and Ngaoundaba (0.21 ha). The factors of this degradation are mainly human (agriculture, overgrazing and galloping demography) and result in the fragmentation of natural habitats to the benefit of cultivated areas and purely anthropogenic housing zones. The consequences likely to result from this degradation call on the inhabitants and decision-makers to reduce human activities harmful to the environment and to restore these ecosystems.