Evaluation of land use change pattern of Kajulu-Riat hill peri-urban area near Kisumu City, Kenya

Abstract

Land-use and land-cover changes are so pervasive that, when aggregated globally, they significantly affect key aspects of the Earth’s ecological integrity and ecosystem functioning. Such changes determine the vulnerability of places and people to climatic, economic or socio-political perturbations. This paper seeks to examine the pattern of land use change in a peri-urban set-up of Kajulu-Riat hill in Kisumu City, Kenya. The geographic information system technique of remote sensing was employed to evaluate land use land cover changes. Analysis of driving factors on land use change was done through survey and review of secondary data. The results showed a continous increase in Built-up land cover with a continous decrease in bush land. Other land uses affected by increase in built up are crop land and bare land covers. The results indicate the need for appropriate land use planning decisions at various spatial levels to minimize future unsustainable land use changes.