A Spatio-Temporal Estimation of Land-Use Change and Sequestered Carbon: A Model for the Tarkwa Mining Area of Ghana

This book uses Remote Sensing and GIS techniques to estimate changes in land-use particularly vegetated areas and sequestered carbon in the Tarkwa Mining Area (TMA). Temporal satellite images for four different years and 250 ground reference points were classified using maximum likelihood algorithm. Aboveground forest biomass/carbon stock and its changes in the TMA were also estimated from three nested-circular plots of horizontal radii 12.62 m, 8 m and 4 m using stratified random sampling from 60 locations in 5 dominant land-use types. The impact of mining on vegetation composition was also estimated using distant gradient. Phytosociological analysis was also carried out to determine species density, dominance index and diversity index. The book concludes that, the rate of change in the various land-use types in the TMA is disturbing and if the current trend of development continues, there could be an imbalance in the ecosystem of the TMA. The TMA model should help shed some light on this new and exciting way of estimating sequestered carbon and vegetation changes, and should be especially useful to students, academics and researchers in Ecology and Geomatics.