Land use/cover change in Aswa III sub-catchment, Northern Uganda

In post-conflict northern Uganda accelerated land use and land cover changes are observable but hardly quantified. This study used remote sensing technology to analyze land use/cover changes in Aswa III sub-catchment of Aswa catchment in northern Uganda over a period of thirteen years’ time series (2006-2018), specifically for the years 2006 and 2018. Arc Map 10.1 software was used to analyze, model and map the land cover changes. Landsat imagery of 30 meter resolution were acquired from http://earthexplorer. usgs.gov/ and utilized with the application of unsupervised classification approach. Results showed that Grassland remained the dominant vegetation and that woodland decreased by ten folds, while small scale farming increased by six fold over the same period. This study has shown that subsistence cultivation is the major cause of land cover change in the subcatchment arising from extensive production approach adopted by small scale farmers. It is recommended that agricultural intensification is adopted as a mechanism to reduce horizontal expansion of cultivated land that undermines tree cover. Further, a study on the effect of these changes on sub-catchment erosion and hydrology is recommended.