4.5 Article

Land use land cover change and the comparative impact of co-management and government-management on the forest cover in Malawi (1999-2018)

Journal

JOURNAL OF LAND USE SCIENCE
Volume 14, Issue 4-6, Pages 281-305

Publisher

TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/1747423X.2019.1706654

Keywords

Malawi; Land use; land cover; forest cover; co-management; government management; Miombo Woodlands

Funding

  1. Malawi Government
  2. African Forest Forum

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Miombo Woodland is the major Land use/land cover with important ecological functions in Africa. In Malawi, government-management was designed to manage Woodlands. However, when illegal activities continued, Participatory Forest Management (co-management) in forest reserves was institutionalised for woodland sustainability. Currently, information on co-management mitigating deforestation and degradation is scant. This study assessed woodland/forest through Land use/land cover (LULC) classification across the country (Malawi); compared forest cover within and between strategies using 11 co-management and 12 government-management forest reserves across the country between 1999 and 2018. Overall accuracies were >90%. Woodland net loses 8.4% (4.39-3.39 million ha) were to Plantation, Grassland and Agriculture transition intensities. Agriculture net gains 9.6% (1.87-3.00 million ha) were from Grassland, Settlement and Woodland transitions for the whole Malawi. Forest cover within co-management and government-management indicated loses. Sustainable management of degraded woodlands, integrated Agriculture and monitoring is encouraged. Further interpretation of transitions is recommended.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.5
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available