Abstract

Uganda continues to experience high-refugee population influx that is beyond the established settlement capacities. Little information is available on the present and future impacts of settling refugees and host-communities on landuse changes and vegetation degradation. This study used Sentinel-2 images (20m) of 2016-2019 and Dinamica Ego-software to determine the current and future spatial areal-extent of changes in 2022. Findings revealed a rarefied increase in areas under subsistence-farming, builtups and refugee-settlements while the losses were seen in savannah-grasslands, wetlands and woodlands. In 2021, the most significant increases in the land will be experienced in builtup-areas, settlements and commercial farming. The most degraded vegetation types were savannah-grassland, woodlands and tree-plantations. These were primarily attributed to unending activities of deforestation, bush-burning, high-refugee population, land-conflicts with host-communities and wetland reclamation. Thus, unless sustainable farming and energy-saving practices are promoted and adopted, the landscape is likely to remain not even with remnants of green-cover.

摘要

乌干达继续经历超过既定安置能力的大量难民涌入。关于定居难民和收容社区对土地利用变化和植被退化的当前和未来影响的信息很少。这项研究使用了 2016-2019 年的 Sentinel-2 图像（20m）和 Dinamica Ego 软件来确定 2022 年当前和未来的空间变化范围。调查结果显示，自给农业、建筑和难民的区域出现了罕见的增加。大草原、湿地和林地造成的损失。到 2021 年，建成区、定居点和商业农业的土地增长将最为显着。退化最严重的植被类型是稀树草原、林地和人工林。这些主要归因于无休止的森林砍伐、丛林燃烧、大量难民、与东道社区的土地冲突和湿地开垦。因此，除非可持续农业和节能实践得到推广和采用，否则即使有残余的绿色覆盖物，景观也可能不会存在。