The purpose of this study was to determine the hydrological impacts of land use/land cover (LU LC) change in the Harts River catchment from 1990 to 20 l 0 using an integration of remote sensing, Geographic Information System and statistical methods. Hydrological data of rainfall and river discharge were statistically analysed to reveal the changes and trends from 1990 to 20 l 0. Changes in year-to-year relationships between precipitation and discharge suggested that discharge was relatively higher in the second half than in the first half of the study period. In fact, a weak correlation of 0.39 was found between precipitation and river discharge. The positi ve trend in discharge in the Harts River coincided with major changes in land cover over the study area. The LULC changes showed a decrease of vegetation cover from 758345 ha in 1990 to 736879ha in 2008, while barren land increased from 226670 ha in 1990 to 324322 ha in 2008 (an increase of 97652 ha). The coup I ing of surface observations, remote sensing, and statistical analysis demonstrated the impact of changes in LULC on peak river discharge and hence flooding behaviour on the Harts River catchment.
Land capability evaluation is important in arid and semi-arid environment as environmental resources need to be sustainably used. Land capability evaluation for agriculture assesses the land performance for a specific use of crop production. The objective of this research is to establish the potential role of remote sensing (RS) and GIS in spatial planning for arable agriculture in a communal land use setting of North West Province. The primary data were obtained from soil samples collected to 1 m depth and secondary information was acquired from the remotely sensed data (SPOT 5). The factors taken into consideration were soil texture, soil depth, clay fraction, pH and land use/land cover. Weighted overlay was used to combine all the parameters and produce a final capability map for sorghum and sunflower at Rietfontein farm. The results show that sorghum cultivation is suitable while sunflower is marginally suitable for cultivation. The study demonstrates that the farm can be categorized into spatially distributed agriculture potential zones based on the parameters. This study provides knowledge and encourages local communities to use land obtained through land reform sustainably and ensure food security in the country.
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