Land use change and its implications on temperature and rainfall in the central cattle corridor districts of Uganda.

Abstract

The study was conducted in six the cattle corridor Districts of Uganda (Sembabule, Mubende, Kiboga, Kyankwanzi, Nakaseke and Nakasongola) in central Uganda, with a major objective of assessing change and its implications on temperature and rainfall Specifically of the study sought to identify and delineate different Land Use Land Cover categories and pattern of land use in the Cattle corridor from 1995 to 2015, to assess the change in Land Use Land Cover (LULC) categories through spatial Comparison and to evaluate the correlation between Land Use Land Cover Change and rainfall and temperature in the cattle corridor. Data of land use and land cover was got by remote sensing and analyzed in ArcGIS. Satellite images were acquired which underwent a process of preparation, editing, visualization, segmentation, classification and validation. This process generated the land use and land cover maps together with the statistics. The rainfall data was collected by the use of the Climate Haezard group infrared precipitation Station (CHIRPS) data set while the temperature data was collected through the climate research center (CRU) website. To evaluate the correlation, a regression analysis was done in Microsoft excel. The research found that there were tremendous changes in the land use and land cover classes. Broad leaved plantations increased by 2,514.7 hectares, coniferous forests by 26530.6 ha, wetlands increased by 22,970.5, Subsistence farm lands also increased by 251,8795, commercial farmlands by 3,930.7 ha, built up areas, open water and impediment also increase while Tropical High Forests well stocked, Tropical high Forests low stocked, Woodlands and Grasslands reduced over the period of assessment that is from 1995 to 2015. The study findings also reveal that stable forests covered 151,911.6ha, forest loss 445, 381 L 5 ha, forest to -wetlands 8087.9 ha, forest gain 78808.4 ha, stable non-forest 998772.1 ha, none forest to wetland 27030.3 ha, wetlands to forest 1300.3, wetlands to none, forest 7795.6 ha and stable wetlands 77296.6 ha. The changes in land use and land Cover were regressed with rainfall and temperature. It was found that there was no significant Correlation between al] the land use and land cover categories with rainfall. Well as changes in land use and land cover classes to include open water and Bush lands did not have a significant correlation with temperature, changes Tropical forests, plantations and wetlands had significant correlation with temperature. The study concluded that changes in land use and land cover impacted on the temperatures over the years. Therefore, a significant reduction in forest cover, wetlands, and plantations will increase temperatures of a given area. However, further research should be conducted to investigate the period taken for the changes to significantly impact on rainfall and also correlation and interactions between the two meteorological parameters.