Abstract:
The study analyzed two decades of land use and land cover (LULC) change in
Mugoye Sub-County on Bugala island, Kalangala District, central Uganda. The
drivers of such LULC change were also investigated. The specific objectives were to
determine; land use practices undertaken in Mugoye sub-county by the year 2022, the
driving factors of land use/land cover change, the spatial pattern and extent of LULC
change over 20 years. A further attempt was made to determine LULC conversions
among the major classes. The researcher combined both the questionnaire and remote
sensing data collection methods to analyze LULC change as well as its causative
factors in the study area between the years 2002 and 2022. The questionnaire and key
informant interviews were used to capture people‘s perceptions on land use practices,
land use/cover change and its driving forces while remote sensing method was used to
obtain data on spatial pattern and extent of LULC change over the past two decades.
Questionnaire data analysis was done using the statistical package for social scientists
(SPSS) while the remote sensing data was analyzed in ArcGIS software.
The land use practices were; subsistence farming and human settlement (built up area)
in 2002. By 2012 commercial oil palm cultivation was introduced in the study area
and this increased in acreage throughout the remaining period of the study. Whereas
the commercial farmland increased exponentially from 0% to 39.6%, the tropical high
forest decreased, in almost equal but opposite measure, from 68.7% to 31.1%. The
driving factors of LULC change included: population pressure, increased social
amenities, income from oil palm, Uganda government incentives for oil palm farming,
land availability, Investor‘s interest in oil palm dividends, soil quality, land tenure,
culture and markets for food crops. Agricultural expansion had the greatest influence
on land use/land cover change in Mugoye Sub-County.
The study recommended that: The ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with other
stakeholders should develop and implement a land use plan that will ensure that the
remaining natural forests and wetlands are protected and people have adequate land
for crop farming and food security; On farm tree planting and woodlot establishment
should be promoted to reduce public pressure on the remaining natural forests as a
source of fuel wood and timber or poles for construction; The District in collaboration
with NFA and development partners should promote energy saving technologies to
reduce on fuel wood consumption and destruction on the natural forest cover;
Government should strengthen the capacity of NFA staff to effectively protect the
remaining natural forest by strengthening law enforcement, marking and protecting
the forest boundary and restoring degraded areas.