PreprintArticleVersion 1This version is not peer-reviewed
Mapping Land Use Land Cover Changes to Explore the Role of Nature-Based Solutions in the Restoration and Protection of Urban Green Infrastructure: The Case of Mzuzu City, Malawi
Version 1
: Received: 25 October 2024 / Approved: 26 October 2024 / Online: 28 October 2024 (14:41:53 CET)
How to cite:
Luka, L.; Manda, M. Mapping Land Use Land Cover Changes to Explore the Role of Nature-Based Solutions in the Restoration and Protection of Urban Green Infrastructure: The Case of Mzuzu City, Malawi. Preprints2024, 2024102108. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.2108.v1
Luka, L.; Manda, M. Mapping Land Use Land Cover Changes to Explore the Role of Nature-Based Solutions in the Restoration and Protection of Urban Green Infrastructure: The Case of Mzuzu City, Malawi. Preprints 2024, 2024102108. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.2108.v1
Luka, L.; Manda, M. Mapping Land Use Land Cover Changes to Explore the Role of Nature-Based Solutions in the Restoration and Protection of Urban Green Infrastructure: The Case of Mzuzu City, Malawi. Preprints2024, 2024102108. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.2108.v1
APA Style
Luka, L., & Manda, M. (2024). Mapping Land Use Land Cover Changes to Explore the Role of Nature-Based Solutions in the Restoration and Protection of Urban Green Infrastructure: The Case of Mzuzu City, Malawi. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.2108.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Luka, L. and Mtafu Manda. 2024 "Mapping Land Use Land Cover Changes to Explore the Role of Nature-Based Solutions in the Restoration and Protection of Urban Green Infrastructure: The Case of Mzuzu City, Malawi" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.2108.v1
Abstract
Mzuzu city is Malawi’s fastest growing city but this has brought with it degradation of its urban green infrastructure (UGI) which has contributed to the city’s increased vulnerability to climate change-related hazards such as flooding. Mzuzu’s major UGI, the Lunyangwa River basin (LR) and the Mzuzu Botanic Gardens (MBG), are particularly affected. Nature-based solutions (NBS), interventions that improve the flow of ecosystem services (ES) to enhance and strengthen urban resilience and sustainability at multiple scales, contribute to the restoration, protection and management of ecosystems to address ecological degradation. This study maps land use land cover changes (LULC) to explore the role of NBS interventions in addressing the city’s climate change adaptation and mitigation challenges. The study used remote sensing data obtained from satellite imagery to map spatio-temporal changes in LULC in Mzuzu city in general and the LR basin and MBG ecosystems in particular, over a period of 34 years from 1986 to 2020. The study found that the LR basin and MBG have undergone both formal and informal urban encroachment in some sections and that in these areas urban communities are more affected by flood-related disasters than in those where there has been little or no encroachment. The study concludes that mapping and quantifying urbanisation-driven LULC provides a spatial framework for identifying and targeting NBS interventions which involve urban green infrastructure restoration and protection to address the city’s vulnerability to climate change impacts such as flooding and mudslides.
Keywords
nature-based solutions; green infrastructure; ecosystems; land use land cover change; urban encroachment; urban resilience; urban sustainability; adaptation; mitigation; climate change
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Environmental Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
