Influencing Factors of Cultivated Land Fragmentation on Planting Decision of Daylily

Based on questionnaire survey data of daylily planting farmers in the paper,from the perspective of farmers own conditions(including age,gender,education level,and annual household income),climate perception ability,policy perception ability,and land fragmentation situation,consistency analysis,variance analysis,regression analysis and other methods were used to analyze the impact of land use on farmers decision-making changes in planting daylily.The results showed that the age of the household head,annual household income,policy perception ability,and average cultivated land area per block had a significant impact on the planting area of daylily,and the degree of impact increased in order.This study can provide theoretical basis and practical guidance for farmers decision-making and land use methods in planting daylily.

Survey and Recommendations for Land Use of Agricultural Machinery Service Organization Facilities in Guizhou Province

With the advancement of agricultural modernization, agricultural machinery service organizations, as an important part of the rural operating entities, show an increasing trend year by year, and need new facilities land in the process of development and growth. Based on the written survey of 597 agricultural machinery service organizations in Guizhou Province, the demand and demand gap of various facilities land use in agricultural machinery service organizations were analyzed and compared. In addition, based on the field survey and policy background, the main practices and experiences of agricultural machinery service organizations in Guizhou Province in the approval and use of facility land were sorted out, and the problems and causes of large gap in facility agricultural land, lack of standards and difficulty in policy implementation were analyzed. Finally, it recommended that the site selection of agricultural machinery service organization facilities needs to be standardized, the land demand needs to be coordinated, the land scale needs to be scientifically demonstrated, and financial support should be sought to promote Guizhou agricultural machinery service organization to become bigger, better and stronger.

Land use/cover change and ecological network in Gansu Province,China during 2000-2020 and their simulations in 2050

Land use/cover change(LUCC)constitutes the spatial and temporal patterns of ecological security,and the construction of ecological networks is an effective way to ensure ecological security.Exploring the spatial and temporal change characteristics of ecological network and analyzing the integrated relationship between LUCC and ecological security are crucial for ensuring regional ecological security.Gansu is one of the provinces with fragile ecological environment in China,and rapid changes in land use patterns in recent decades have threatened ecological security.Therefore,taking Gansu Province as the study area,this study simulated its land use pattern in 2050 using patch-generating land use simulation(PLUS)model based on the LUCC trend from 2000 to 2020 and integrated the LUCC into morphological spatial pattern analysis(MSPA)to identify ecological sources and extract the ecological corridors to construct ecological network using circuit theory.The results revealed that,according to the prediction results in 2050,the areas of cultivated land,forest land,grassland,water body,construction land,and unused land would be 63,447.52,39,510.80,148,115.18,4605.21,8368.89,and 161,752.40 km^(2),respectively.The number of ecological sources in Gansu Province would increase to 80,with a total area of 99,927.18 km^(2).The number of ecological corridors would increase to 191,with an estimated total length of 6120.66 km.Both ecological sources and ecological corridors showed a sparse distribution in the northwest and dense distribution in the southeast of the province at the spatial scale.The number of ecological pinch points would reach 312 and the total area would expect to increase to 842.84 km^(2),with the most pronounced increase in the Longdong region.Compared with 2020,the number and area of ecological barriers in 2050 would decrease significantly by 63 and 370.71 km^(2),respectively.In general,based on the prediction results,the connectivity of ecological network of Gansu Province would increase in 2050.To achieve the predicted ecological network in 2050,emphasis should be placed on the protection of cultivated land and ecological land,the establishment of ecological sources in desert areas,the reinforcement of the protection for existing ecological sources,and the construction of ecological corridors to enhance the stability of ecological network.This study provides valuable theoretical support and references for the future construction of ecological networks and regional land resource management decision-making.

基于谷歌地球引擎和Landsat影像的广西壮族自治区土地覆盖变化及驱动因素研究

基于GEE和随机森林分类算法研究广西壮族自治区在1995—2022年27 a间的土地覆被变化,采用地理探测器对不同土地覆被类型的时空变化及其主要驱动因素进行分析研究。结果表明:1)土地覆被类型分类结果具有较好的分类精度,整体精度在87%~92%。2)1995—2022年,广西壮族自治区的林地和建设用地面积持续增加,增幅分别达75.94%和132.67%。林地面积从85382.72 km^(2)增加到150224.55 km^(2),建设用地面积从2038.73 km^(2)增加到4743.46 km^(2);与此同时,草地及稀疏灌草混交地面积减少了82.46%(66990.97 km^(2));其他土地覆被类型变化则相对稳定。3)通过地理探测器模型的分析结果显示,人为因素是影响土地利用/覆被(LULC)变化的主要驱动因素,经济的快速发展、城市人口的增加和工业扩张是建设用地和林地扩张以及植被减少的主要原因。研究结果对于广西壮族自治区的生态环境管理和土地可持续利用规划具有参考价值。

基于Landsat影像的城市土地利用动态监测

土地是自然界不可或缺的资源,土地利用反映了人地关系。随着人口数量的持续增加和社会工业化、城市化的持续推进,如何科学地开发利用宝贵的土地资源越来越受到人们的重视。本文通过2013年和2023年的Landsat影像数据,结合遥感与GIS,对10年间合肥市土地资源进行监测与分析,结果表明,经过10年的城市发展,合肥市耕地面积减少了65707.92 hm 2,建设用地增长了39181.05 hm 2,林地减少了1728.27 hm 2,水域增加了28255.14 hm 2。

Landsat和GF数据面向对象土地覆盖分类研究

针对中分辨率遥感数据面向对象分类,以河北省北部山区和南部平原Landsat8 OLI,Landsat5 TM及高分一号(GF1)数据为研究对象,对支持向量机(support vector machine,SVM)、随机森林(random forest,RF)、决策树(decision tree,DT)及朴素贝叶斯(naive Bayes,NB)4种分类器的土地覆盖分类效果进行对比,并分析SVM,RF和DT中关键参数对分类结果的影响。结果表明:在2个研究区,各分类器结果略有差异,从整体上看其优劣排序为SVM,NB,RF和DT。其中SVM和DT分类精度随参数变化波动较大:对于SVM,当参数C取值不小于103且gamma不大于10^(-1)时,无论哪种情况其分类精度均优于90%;对于DT,当参数树深(Depth)大于3时,各情况下的分类精度相对较高且趋于稳定。RF分类精度随参数变化波动较小且没有明显的变化规律。研究结果可为中分辨率遥感数据面向对象土地覆盖分类研究提供参考。

Uphill or downhill?Cropland use change and its drivers from the perspective of slope spectrum

The continuous decrease of low-slope cropland resources caused by construction land crowding poses huge threat to regional sustainable development and food security.Slope spectrum analysis of topographic and geomorphic features is considered as a digital terrain analysis method which reflects the macro-topographic features by using micro-topographic factors.However,pieces of studies have extended the concept of slope spectrum in the field of geoscience to construction land to explore its expansion law,while research on the slope trend of cropland from that perspective remains rare.To address the gap,in virtue of spatial analysis and geographically weighted regression(GWR)model,the cropland use change in the Yangtze River Basin(YRB)from 2000 to 2020 was analyzed and the driving factors were explored from the perspective of slope spectrum.Results showed that the slope spectrum curves of cropland area-frequency in the YRB showed a first upward then a downward trend.The change curve of the slope spectrum of cropland in each province(municipality)exhibited various distribution patterns.Quantitative analysis of morphological parameters of cropland slope spectrum revealed that the further down the YRB,the stronger the flattening characteristics,the more obvious the concentration.The province experienced the greatest downhill cropland climbing(CLC)was Shannxi,while province experienced the highest uphill CLC was Zhejiang.The most common cropland use change type in the YRB was horizontal expansion type.The factors affecting average cropland climbing index(ACCI)were quite stable in different periods,while population density(POP)changed from negative to positive during the study period.This research is of practical significance for the rational utilization of cropland at the watershed scale.

Sustainable land management in Mali

This study uses logistic and Poisson regression models to examine the factors influencing the adoption of sustain-able land management(SLM)practices in Mali using two rounds of the nationally representative survey Enquête Agricole de Conjoncture Intégrée aux Conditions de Vie des Ménages.The SLMs considered include the applica-tion of organic fertilizers,the application of inorganic fertilizers,the use of improved seeds,and the practice of intercropping.On average the application of organic fertilizers(39.2%),and inorganic fertilizers(28.7%)are the most frequent SLM practices among Malian farmers,and between 2014 and 2017,we observe a decline in the practice of intercropping.The regression results show that farmers’adoption of different SLMs is significantly associated with biophysical factors(average temperature,climate type,plot size,plot shape,and location),de-mographic factors(age,gender,education,household size),and socioeconomic factors(number of cultivated plots,livelihood diversification,type of crop grown,market access,credit access,economic shocks,and social capital).Our findings suggest that policymakers and agricultural development agencies in Mali need to adopt a multidimensional policy framework to unlock the untapped potential of SLM practices in promoting sustainable agriculture and food security.

Understanding the Relationship Between Shrinking Cities and Land Prices:Spatial Pattern,Effectiveness,and Policy Implications

Urban shrinkage has emerged as a widespread phenomenon globally and has a significant impact on land,particularly in terms of land use and price.This study focuses on 2851 county-level cities in China in 2005–2018(excluding Hong Kong,Macao,Taiwan,and‘no data’areas in Qinhai-Tibet Plateau)as the fundamental units of analysis.By employing nighttime light(NTL)data to identify shrinking cities,the propensity score matching(PSM)model was used to quantitatively examine the impact of shrinking cities on land prices,and evaluate the magnitude of this influence.The findings demonstrate the following:1)there were 613 shrinking cities in China,with moderate shrinkage being the most prevalent and severe shrinkage being the least.2)Regional disparities are evident in the spatial distribution of shrinking cities,especially in areas with diverse terrain.3)The spatial pattern of land price exhibits a significant correlated to the economic and administrative levels.4)Shrinking cities significantly negatively impact on the overall land price(ATT=–0.1241,P<0.05).However,the extent of the effect varies significantly among different spatial regions.This study contributes novel insights into the investigation of land prices and shrinking cities,ultimately serving as a foundation for government efforts to promote the sustainable development of urban areas.

Formation of Tianwen-1 landing crater and mechanical properties of Martian soil near the landing site

After landing in the Utopia Planitia,Tianwen-1 formed the deepest landing crater on Mars,approximately 40 cm deep,exposing precious information about the mechanical properties of Martian soil.We established numerical models for the plume-surface interaction(PSI)and the crater formation based on Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD)methods and the erosion model modified from Roberts’Theory.Comparative studies of cases were conducted with different nozzle heights and soil mechanical properties.The increase in cohesion and internal friction angle leads to a decrease in erosion rate and maximum crater depth,with the cohesion having a greater impact.The influence of the nozzle height is not clear,as it interacts with the position of the Shock Diamond to jointly control the erosion process.Furthermore,we categorized the evolution of landing craters into the dispersive and the concentrated erosion modes based on the morphological characteristics.Finally,we estimated the upper limits of the Martian soil’s mechanical properties near Tianwen-1 landing site,with the cohesion ranging from 2612 to 2042 Pa and internal friction angle from 25°to 41°.

Thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) coupled simulation of the land subsidence due to aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) system in soft soils

Aquifer thermal energy storage(ATES)system has received attention for heating or cooling buildings.However,it is well known that land subsidence becomes a major environmental concern for ATES projects.Yet,the effect of temperature on land subsidence has received practically no attention in the past.This paper presents a thermo-hydro-mechanical(THM)coupled numerical study on an ATES system in Shanghai,China.Four water wells were installed for seasonal heating and cooling of an agriculture greenhouse.The target aquifer at a depth of 74e104.5 m consisted of alternating layers of sand and silty sand and was covered with clay.Groundwater level,temperature,and land subsidence data from 2015 to 2017 were collected using field monitoring instruments.Constrained by data,we constructed a field scale three-dimensional(3D)model using TOUGH(Transport of Unsaturated Groundwater and Heat)and FLAC3D(Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua)equipped with a thermo-elastoplastic constitutive model.The effectiveness of the numerical model was validated by field data.The model was used to reproduce groundwater flow,heat transfer,and mechanical responses in porous media over three years and capture the thermo-and pressure-induced land subsidence.The results show that the maximum thermoinduced land subsidence accounts for about 60%of the total subsidence.The thermo-induced subsidence is slightly greater in winter than that in summer,and more pronounced near the cold well area than the hot well area.This study provides some valuable guidelines for controlling land subsidence caused by ATES systems installed in soft soils.

Modelling Land Use/Land Cover Change of River Rwizi Catchment, South-Western Uganda Using GIS and Markov Chain Model

Analysis of catchment Land use/Land cover (LULC) change is a vital tool in ensuring sustainable catchment management. The study analyzed land use/land cover changes in the Rwizi catchment, south western Uganda from 1989-2019 and projected the trend by 2040. Landsat images, field observations, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data. Changes in cropland, forestland, built up area, grazing land, wetland and open water bodies were analyzed in ArcGIS version 10.2.2 and ERDAS IMAGINE 14 software and a Markov chain model. All the LULC classes increased in area except grazing land. Forest land and builtup area between 2009-2019 increased by 370.03% and 229.53% respectively. Projections revealed an increase in forest land and builtup area by 2030 and only built up area by 2040. LULCC in the catchment results from population pressure, reduced soil fertility and high value of agricultural products.

Spatiotemporal landscape pattern changes and their effects on land surface temperature in greenbelt with semi-arid climate:A case study of the Erbil City,Iraq

Urban expansion of cities has caused changes in land use and land cover(LULC)in addition to transformations in the spatial characteristics of landscape structure.These alterations have generated heat islands and rise of land surface temperature(LST),which consequently have caused a variety of environmental issues and threated the sustainable development of urban areas.Greenbelts are employed as an urban planning containment policy to regulate urban expansion,safeguard natural open spaces,and serve adaptation and mitigation functions.And they are regarded as a powerful measure for enhancing urban environmental sustainability.Despite the fact that,the relation between landscape structure change and variation of LST has been examined thoroughly in many studies,but there is a limitation concerning this relation in semi-arid climate and in greenbelts as well,with the lacking of comprehensive research combing both aspects.Accordingly,this study investigated the spatiotemporal changes of landscape pattern of LULC and their relationship with variation of LST within an inner greenbelt in the semi-arid Erbil City of northern Iraq.The study utilized remote sensing data to retrieve LST,classified LULC,and calculated landscape metrics for analyzing spatial changes during the study period.The results indicated that both composition and configuration of LULC had an impact on the variation of LST in the study area.The Pearson's correlation showed the significant effect of Vegetation 1 type(VH),cultivated land(CU),and bare soil(BS)on LST,as increase of LST was related to the decrease of VH and the increases of CU and BS,while,neither Vegetation 2 type(VL)nor built-up(BU)had any effects.Additionally,the spatial distribution of LULC also exhibited significant effects on LST,as LST was strongly correlated with landscape indices for VH,CU,and BS.However,for BU,only aggregation index metric affected LST,while none of VL metrics had a relation.The study provides insights for landscape planners and policymakers to not only develop more green spaces in greenbelt but also optimize the spatial landscape patterns to reduce the influence of LST on the urban environment,and further promote sustainable development and enhance well-being in the cities with semi-arid climate.

Review of coastal land transformation:Factors,impacts,adaptation strategies,and future scopes

Coastal land transformation has been identified as a topic of research in many countries around the world.Several studies have been conducted to determine the causes and impacts of land transformation.However,much less is understood about coupling change detection,factors,impacts,and adaptation strategies for coastal land transformation at a global scale.This review aims to present a systematic review of global coastal land transformation and its leading research areas.From 1,741 documents of Scopus and Web of Science,60 studies have been selected using the PRISMA-2020 guideline.Results revealed that existing literature included four leading focus areas regarding coastal land transformation:change detection,driving factors,impacts,and adaptation measures.These focus areas were further analyzed,and it was found that more than 80%of studies used Landsat imagery to detect land transformation.Population growth and urbanization were among the major driving factors identified.This review further identified that about 37%of studies included impact analysis.These studies identified impacts on ecosystems,land surface temperature,migration,water quality,and occupational effects as significant impacts.However,only four studies included adaptation strategies.This review explored the scope of comprehensive research in coastal land transformation,addressing change detection,factor and impact analysis,and mitigation-adaptation strategies.The research also proposes a conceptual framework for comprehensive coastal land transformation analysis.The framework can provide potential decision-making guidance for future studies in coastal land transformation.

Spatio-temporal Evolution Characteristics and Driving Forces of Winter Urban Heat Island:A Case Study of Rapid Urbanization Area of Fuzhou City,China

Under the influence of anthropogenic and climate change,the problems caused by urban heat island(UHI)has become increasingly prominent.In order to promote urban sustainable development and improve the quality of human settlements,it is significant for exploring the evolution characteristics of urban thermal environment and analyzing its driving forces.Taking the Landsat series images as the basic data sources,the winter land surface temperature(LST)of the rapid urbanization area of Fuzhou City in China was quantitatively retrieved from 2001 to 2021.Combing comprehensively the standard deviation ellipse model,profile analysis and GeoDetector model,the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics and influencing factors of the winter urban thermal environment were systematically analyzed.The results showed that the winter LST presented an increasing trend in the study area during 2001–2021,and the winter LST of the central urban regions was significantly higher than the suburbs.There was a strong UHI effect from 2001 to 2021with an expansion trend from the central urban regions to the suburbs and coastal areas in space scale.The LST of green lands and wetlands are significantly lower than croplands,artificial surface and unvegetated lands.Vegetation and water bodies had a significant mitigation effect on UHI,especially in the micro-scale.The winter UHI had been jointly driven by the underlying surface and socio-economic factors in a nonlinear or two-factor interactive enhancement mode,and socio-economic factors had played a leading role.This research could provide data support and decision-making references for rationally planning urban layout and promoting sustainable urban development.

ERA5和ERA5-Land地面风速资料在中国陆地区域的适用性对比初步研究

利用全国40个地面台站的观测资料对ERA5及ERA5-Land两种不同空间分辨率的再分析资料开展了地面风速误差评估研究,结果表明:ERA5和ERA5-Land资料多年平均风速偏差的平均值分别为0.08 m s^(−1)、-0.06 m s^(−1),偏差的最大值分别为0.46 m s^(−1)、-0.19 m s^(−1),相对偏差的平均值为4.4%、-2.0%,相对偏差的最大值分别为33.0%、-10.1%;月平均风速线性拟合方程的斜率分别为0.93、0.97,截距分别为0.29 m s^(−1)、0.02 m s^(−1),相关系数分别为0.98、0.99;月平均风速均方根误差的平均值分别为0.17 m s^(−1)、0.14 m s^(−1),均方根误差的最大值分别为0.49 m s^(−1)、0.22 m s^(−1),相对均方根误差的平均值为7.4%、5.7%,相对均方根误差的最大值分别为35.2%、13.3%。ERA5-Land高分辨率资料地面风速误差相对较低,有利于提高风能资源评估的准确性。

Land use change and its driving factors in the ecological function area:A case study in the Hedong Region of the Gansu Province,China

Land use and cover change(LUCC)is important for the provision of ecosystem services.An increasing number of recent studies link LUCC processes to ecosystem services and human well-being at different scales recently.However,the dynamic of land use and its drivers receive insufficient attention within ecological function areas,particularly in quantifying the dynamic roles of climate change and human activities on land use based on a long time series.This study utilizes geospatial analysis and geographical detectors to examine the temporal dynamics of land use patterns and their underlying drivers in the Hedong Region of the Gansu Province from 1990 to 2020.Results indicated that grassland,cropland,and forestland collectively accounted for approximately 99% of the total land area.Cropland initially increased and then decreased after 2000,while grassland decreased with fluctuations.In contrast,forestland and construction land were continuously expanded,with net growth areas of 6235.2 and 455.9 km^(2),respectively.From 1990 to 2020,cropland was converted to grassland,and both of them were converted to forestland as a whole.The expansion of construction land primarily originated from cropland.From 2000 to 2005,land use experienced intensified temporal dynamics and a shift of relatively active zones from the central to the southeastern region.Grain yield,economic factors,and precipitation were the major factors accounting for most land use changes.Climatic impacts on land use changes were stronger before 1995,succeeded by the impact of animal husbandry during 1995-2000,followed by the impacts of grain production and gross domestic product(GDP)after 2000.Moreover,agricultural and pastoral activities,coupled with climate change,exhibited stronger enhancement effects after 2000 through their interaction with population and economic factors.These patterns closely correlated with ecological restoration projects in China since 1999.This study implies the importance of synergy between human activity and climate change for optimizing land use via ecological patterns in the ecological function area.

Assessing Spatio-Temporal Land Cover Changes in Dhund River Basin, Eastern Rajasthan (India), Using Multi-Temporal Landsat Data

Land cover is an impression of natural cover on surface of earth such as bare soil, river, grass etc. and utilization of these natural covers for various human needs and purposes by mankind is defined as land use. Land cover identification, delineation and mapping is important for planning activities, resource management and global monitoring studies while baseline mapping and subsequent monitoring is done by application of land use to get timely information about quantity of land that has been used. The present study has been carried out in Dhund river watershed of Jaipur, Rajasthan which covers an area of about 1828 sq∙km. The minimum and maximum elevation of the area is found to be 214 m and 603 m respectively. Land use and land cover changes of three decades from 1991 to 2021 have been interpreted by using remotes sensing and GIS techniques. ArcGIS software (Arc map 10.2), SOI topographic map, Cartosat-1 DEM and satellite data of Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 have been used for interpretation of eleven classes. The study shows an increase in cultivated land, settlement, waterbody, open forest, plantation and mining due to urbanization because of increasing demands of food, shelter and water while a decrease in dense forest, river, open scrub, wasteland and uncultivated land has also been marked due to destruction of aforementioned by anthropogenic activities such as industrialization resulting in environmental degradation that leads to air, soil and water pollution.

Historical Changes and Multi-scenario Prediction of Land Use and Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon Storage in China

Terrestrial carbon storage(CS)plays a crucial role in achieving carbon balance and mitigating global climate change.This study employs the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways and Representative Concentration Pathways(SSPs-RCPs)published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC)and incorporates the Policy Control Scenario(PCS)regulated by China’s land management policies.The Future Land Use Simulation(FLUS)model is employed to generate a 1 km resolution land use/cover change(LUCC)dataset for China in 2030 and 2060.Based on the carbon density dataset of China’s terrestrial ecosystems,the study analyses CS changes and their relationship with land use changes spanning from 1990 to 2060.The findings indicate that the quantitative changes in land use in China from 1990 to 2020 are characterised by a reduction in the area proportion of cropland and grassland,along with an increase in the impervious surface and forest area.This changing trend is projected to continue under the PCS from 2020 to 2060.Under the SSPs-RCPs scenario,the proportion of cropland and impervious surface predominantly increases,while the proportions of forest and grassland continuously decrease.Carbon loss in China’s carbon storage from 1990 to 2020 amounted to 0.53×10^(12)kg,primarily due to the reduced area of cropland and grassland.In the SSPs-RCPs scenario,more significant carbon loss occurs,reaching a peak of8.07×10^(12)kg in the SSP4-RCP3.4 scenario.Carbon loss is mainly concentrated in the southeastern coastal area and the Beijing-TianjinHebei(BTH)region of China,with urbanisation and deforestation identified as the primary drivers.In the future,it is advisable to enhance the protection of forests and grassland while stabilising cropland areas and improving the intensity of urban land.These research findings offer valuable data support for China’s land management policy,land space optimisation,and the achievement of dual-carbon targets.

Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics in the Eseka Alluvial Gold Mining District, Centre Region, Cameroon

Local populations in Cameroon thrive on forest resources and the flow of ecosystem services they provide are pivotal in sustaining national economy, improving people’s lives, safeguarding biodiversity, and mitigating the impacts of environmental changes. The exploitation of these resources invariably leads to deforestation and forest degradation. This study was designed to evaluate land use land cover change (LULCC) in the Eseka alluvial gold mining district with the aid of Landsat images. In the investigation of forest cover change, four Landsat satellite images for (1990, 2002, 2015 and 2022) were used. Ground-truthing also helped to identify the activities carried out by the local population and to determine agents, drivers and pressures of land use and land cover change. Four main land cover classes namely: forest, agricultural land, settlement/mining camps and water bodies were selected. Between 1990 and 2022, the proportion of forest decreased from 98% to 34% while those of agricultural land and settlement/mining camps increased from 2% to 60% and 0.54% to 6% respectively. Analysis showed ongoing deforestation with forest cover loss of ~98,263 ha in 32 years giving a cover change percentage of 63.94%. Kappa coefficient for the study period ranged from 0.92 to 0.99. Forest cover loss could be attributed to farming activities, wood extraction and alluvial gold mining activities. Economic motives notably the need to increase household income from a frequent demand for farm and wood products in neighbouring towns and the quest for gold were the main drivers of these activities. Hence, this study assesses the impact of human activities from the mining sector on the forest ecosystem in a bid to inform mitigation policies.