Impacts of land-use and land-cover change on rural livelihoods: Evidence from eastern Sierra Leone

Land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes have been observed in Sierra Leone, but to what extent they impact rural livelihoods, amidst investment by multinational companies in non-food crops and mining, remains a grey area in the scientific discourse. Against this backdrop, this study attempts, for the first time, to investigate the spatio-temporal dynamics of LULC changes and their impacts on household livelihoods in a rural area in eastern Sierra Leone, using remote sensing and ancillary socio-economic and livelihood data. For this purpose, temporal Landsat images at 1986, 2000 and 2020 were subjected to the Maximum Likelihood classification algorithm to map and detect the change of the six most informative LULC classes in the test site. Ground-truth LULC and socio-economic and household livelihood surveys were conducted to obtain ancillary data. Results indicate a sub-stantial (51%) decrease in Wetland area (29,525 ha to 14,554 ha) but an increase in Dense Forest of 24% (8,873 ha to 11,036 ha) over the 34-year period. While the natural assets of households are on the decline, physical and financial assets are on the increase. However, household livelihood outcomes are less favourable and households are therefore vulnerable to food insecurity as changes in LULC persist.

Automated summary

This study investigates the spatio-temporal dynamics of land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes and their impacts on household livelihoods in rural Sierra Leone. The results show a significant decrease in wetland area and an increase in dense forest, with a decline in natural assets and an increase in physical and financial assets. However, household livelihood outcomes are less favorable and vulnerable to food insecurity as LULC changes persist.