Analysing land cover and land use change in the Matobo National Park and surroundings in Zimbabwe

A study analyzing land cover and use changes in Matobo National Park, Zimbabwe, reveals that while the park's composition remained stable from 1989 to 2014, surrounding areas experienced significant shifts. Forest coverage increased by approximately 7% outside the park, particularly on common lands, where agricultural areas decreased due to the Fast Track Land Reform of the early 2000s. The research used Landsat images and supervised classification with Random Forests, supplemented by recent observations and change detection, to identify four land cover classes: shrubland, forest, patchy vegetation, and agricultural areas. This approach demonstrates that combining recent data with change detection can effectively study the temporal dynamics of protected areas.

Scharsich, V., Kupakwashe Mtata, Hauhs, M., Lange, H., & Boger, C. (2016). Analysing land cover and land use change in the Matobo National Park and surroundings in Zimbabwe. Unpublished. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.1621.0809