Remote sensing for resources development and environmental management: Remote sensing for resources development and environmental management

Damen, M. C. J.

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Multivolume work

Persistent identifier:: 856342815

Title:: Remote sensing for resources development and environmental management

Sub title:: proceedings of the 7th international Symposium, Enschede, 25 - 29 August 1986

Year of publication:: 1986

Place of publication:: Rotterdam; Boston

Publisher of the original:: A. A. Balkema

Identifier (digital):: 856342815

Language:: English

Additional Notes:: Volume 1-3 erschienen von 1986-1988

Editor:: Damen, M. C. J.

Document type:: Multivolume work

Volume

Persistent identifier:: 856343064

Title:: Remote sensing for resources development and environmental management

Sub title:: proceedings of the 7th international Symposium, Enschede, 25 - 29 August 1986

Scope:: XV, 547 Seiten

Year of publication:: 1986

Place of publication:: Rotterdam; Boston

Publisher of the original:: A. A. Balkema

Identifier (digital):: 856343064

Illustration:: Illustrationen, Diagramme

Signature of the source:: ZS 312(26,7,1)

Language:: English

Usage licence:: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Editor:: Damen, M. C. J.

Publisher of the digital copy:: Technische Informationsbibliothek Hannover

Place of publication of the digital copy:: Hannover

Year of publication of the original:: 2016

Document type:: Volume

Collection:: Earth sciences

Chapter

Title:: 4 Renewable resources in rural areas: Vegetation, forestry, agriculture, soil survey, land and water use. Chairman: J. Besenicar, Liaisons: M. Molenaar, Th. A. de Boer

Document type:: Multivolume work

Structure type:: Chapter

Chapter

Title:: Explorations of the enhanced FCC 1:100.000 for development planning Land-use identification in the Nairobi area. F. Grootenhuis & H. Weeda, K. Kalambo

Document type:: Multivolume work

Structure type:: Chapter

455 Both mountain zones (M) (Figure 3) were covered with indigenous forest (brown-red). On the Aberdares (M1) vast areas of this have been replanted with coniferous forest (bright red). On the Ngong Hills (M2) the indigenous forest occurs only as small remnants, much of it has otherwise been used as firewood and has been replaced by grasslands (yellow). The escarpment zone (E) (Figure 4) consists of poorly drained large scale dry grasslands (yellow, blue) in the more western part and in the large depressions caused by faulting related to the edge of the Gregory Rift. The higher slopes with better drained soils and more rainfall support the small scale production of foodcrops (mottled pattern of yellow, brown, green and red). The Muguga, Dagoretti and Embakasi Forests are managed by the Forest Depart ment. The slope zone (S) (Figure 5) consists of the small scale tea zone (S1), small scale coffee (S2), large scale coffee plantations (S3), large scale tea farms (S4) and the low density residential area (S5). Red well drained soils are dominant and the rainfall is sufficient to support intensive cultivation. The S1 region consists of small scale farms with tea, limited food production, woodlots and grasslands (red, pink). Altitude and soil acidity are determining factors in this area. Some farms have been recently established at the edge of the original forest area M1. The S2 region is located lower on the slopes and consists of even smaller scale farms pro ducing coffee and foodcrops with woodlots and grasslands (red) in the valley bottoms arid around the homesteads. This type of farming results in the clearly outstanding mottled pat tern of red and green. The large scale coffee area(S3) has a very sharp northern boundary which was legally estab lished in the colonial times as the boundary between the native reserve and the area in which settlers could freely buy the best quality land. The large scale coffee farms represent a major foreign exchange earner for the country. The water reservoirs needed for the irrigation of the coffee are clearly visible as black spots. The shallow soils along the river bottoms and the badly drained depressions are un suitable for coffee and were turned into grasslands (yellow and red). The river bottoms them selves are bright red related to the high vegetative production .The Karura, Kiambu and Kamithi Forests are represented by a darker red caused by the semi-deciduous character of the indig enous species. The sharp boundaries of the large scale tea area (S4) date back to policies of the colonial government. The altitude and the soil acidity determine the suitability for coffee or tea, however they occur together in the southern part of the area (pink and dark red). The yellow represents the grassland supporting a succesful dairy industry. Hedges are planted around the fields and foodcrops occur on the steeper parts of the slopes, both appear red on the FCC. The western part of the slope zone in between the Ngong Hills and the large scale coffee farms (S5) shows the encroachment of the urban area of Nairobi on the original indigenous forest (dark red) and badly drained grasslands (yellow, red). Rural settlements are increa sing on the lower slopes of the Ngong Hills. The pasture lands and forest remnants of the hills are visible as a mottled pattern of red, green and yellow. , The zone defined as plains (P) (Figure 6) is sub-divided in four categories: large scale rangeland (P1), high density residential, industrial, commercial and transport (P2) , large scale managed grasslands (P3) and large scale sisal (P4). The Athi-Kapithi Plains (P1) are the lands communally grazed by pastoralists, without sub division or individual landownership. The general character is determined by the heavy black badly drained soils, the rainfall diminishes and the area is generally flat. The most northern part hosts the Nairobi National Park,where no grazing occurs. This area stands out because it has less green (bare grey soil) and showes more red.(grass cover). Riverbeds stand out as red lines. At the eastern side of the Mombasa Road memnants of sisal estates can be recognized as a brownish colour. P2 is that part of the plain system, located within the Nairobi City boundary, which has already been taken over by urban development. The airport region can be recognized as a set of parallel bright blue lines. High density residential, industrial and commercial develop ments can all be located within the original dry grasslands (yellow). Within the managed grasslands (yellow) (P3) some marginal coffee (red) and sisal (brown) is grown. Recent individual settlements have taken place just outside the city boundary (blue) Cultivation of sisal (brown) occurs on a large-scale P4), alternating with managed grass lands (yellow). In this study the FCC photographic prints of the LANDSAT images, when combined with fieldwork, other data and literature study, presented an enourmous amount of information in a visually efficient manner. The image is itself a summary of the physical expression of the continuous interaction of people and the natural environment revealing both biotic and abiotic factors in the combination of in formation from the visible and near-infra red portions of the spectrum. With this knowledge it is possible to design land-use proposals ultimately tailored to the need of the individual users within the con text of local and regional development. 4 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS The use of LANDSAT data in this study is at a relatively unsophisticated level, and as such, can be easily adopted by all disciplines fo cussed on land-use planning. The definition of the mountain, escarpment, slope and plain zones is neither new nor definite. However the LANDSAT data can be readily interpreted into these zones with a spatial location re lated to topography, vegetation and human settlement in a way not possible from a con- vential map. To achieve the same with aerial photographs is difficult if only panchromatic photographs are available. The date of such materials is a matter of choice, so that up dating would require fieldwork. Individual systems of categorizing land scape elements can be applied to the 9tudy and particular taxonomic systems can be adopted to describe the Nairobi region (Heet- man 1979, Tjia 1985). Multidisciplinary inputs include history (to explain the delineation of coffee and tea estates), socio-economics (land availability,

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