TITLE:
A GIS and Remote Sensing Approach in Assessing Impacts of Mining in Chegutu District, Zimbabwe
AUTHORS:
Tanyaradzwa Gillian Muromba, Lihua Xu
KEYWORDS:
Chegutu, Degradation, LULC, Mining, Zimbabwe
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.11 No.12,
December
26,
2024
ABSTRACT: Mining is one of the human activities that is an important economic activity sustaining livelihoods and hence infrastructural development. However, on the other hand, it is usually carried out at the expense of certain environmental aspects that include loss of vegetation and associated ecosystem services. This study aims to assess spatio-temporal variation of LULC in Chegutu and the extent to which mining has led to LULC change in the district. The study analysed the annual temporal variation of climatic variables namely temperature and rainfall for the period 2002-2022. To determine the spatio-temporal variation of LULC changes in Chegutu, the study applied geospatial techniques during the period 2002-2022 at five-year intervals using Landsat imagery. Trend analysis of temperature and rainfall in the study area was assessed through MannKendall test statistic. A supervised image classification was performed in QGIS for the years 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017 and 2022. Much of the land gained by constructional area landuse class was from vegetation possibly through land clearing to either construction or land degradation. A trend analysis of NDBI was performed to ascertain changes increase in constructional area since the onset of mining activities in Chegutu district with respect to infrastructural development inferred to be resulting from mining activities. Hence, the research acknowledges associated costs and benefits from the impacts of mining activities in the area. This study provides valuable insights for environmental conservation and policy makers on how to minimize the effects of mining on environmental degradation in Chegutu.