Land use-cover-trends-climate-variability-nexus-in-the-njoro-river-catchment

International Journal of Research in Education and Social
Sciences (IJRESS) ISSN: 2617-4804 2 (3) 13-24, June, 2019
www.oircjournals.org
13 | P a g e
Ontumbi (2019) www.oircjournals.org
Land Use/Cover Trends-Climate
Variability Nexus in the Njoro River
Catchment
George Morara Ontumbi
Ph. D Candidate
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Eldoret
Type of the Paper: Research Paper.
Type of Review: Peer Reviewed.
Indexed in: worldwide web.
Google Scholar Citation: IJRESS
International Journal of Research in Education and Social Sciences (IJESS)
A Refereed International Journal of OIRC JOURNALS.
© OIRC JOURNALS.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International
License subject to proper citation to the publication source of the work.
Disclaimer: The scholarly papers as reviewed and published by the OIRC JOURNALS, are the
views and opinions of their respective authors and are not the views or opinions of the OIRC
JOURNALS. The OIRC JOURNALS disclaims of any harm or loss caused due to the published
content to any party.
How to Cite this Paper:
George, M., O. (2019). Land Use/Cover Trends-Climate Variability Nexus in the
Njoro River Catchment.International Journal of Research in Education and Social Sciences
(IJRESS), 2 (3), 13-24.

14 | P a g e
Land Use/Cover Trends-Climate Variability Nexus
in the Njoro River Catchment
George Morara Ontumbi
Ph. D Candidate
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Eldoret
Abstract
Anthropogenic activities have consequences on
the land use/cover trends in the watershed and
subsequently on the hydrological characteristics
of rivers through intertwine of climate
variability. The interplay between land use
changes and climate variability are seen as
contributory causes of catchment degradation in
Kenya. The land use/cover changes increase
impervious ground surfaces, decrease
infiltration rate and increase runoff rate thereby
affecting the hydrological characteristics of rivers. This study considers the interactions between climate variability
and land use/cover changes in the river Njoro catchment in Kenya. The River Njoro drains into the lake Nakuru basin
one of the Great Rift Valley Lakes in Kenya. The objectives of the study were: To evaluate the land-use and land cover
patterns and changes in Njoro River catchment between 1996 and 2016, analyze the temperature and rainfall
variations between 1996 and 2016 and compare the land use/cover changes with the variation in the rainfall and
temperature. Landsat images and secondary data on water quality parameters were used in this study. The study
showed that there was significant variation in rainfall and temperature trends in the Njoro river catchment and
therefore the dynamics of land use/land cover in the river Njoro would be more attributed to anthropogenic activities
than climate variability.
Introduction
The need for environmental sustainability can be
achieved through proper resource management.
Consequently environmental sustainability has
prompted accurate and timely monitoring of land
cover/cover alterations and their interactions within
the immediate environments to provide information
vital for decision making. In Kenya, land cover
degradation would be attributed to uncontrolled
activities from the up-surging human population.
Coupled with lack of appropriate land and water-
management strategies, the degradation of land cover
is considered to magnify hydrological processes
related to surface runoff, soil erosion and
sedimentation as observed by Kundu et al., 2008 &
Githui et al., 2009).
Climate change is affecting almost all countries in the
world. It has become one of the biggest environmental
challenges and a major concern to society because of
its potentially worldwide adverse impacts. There are
already increasing concerns globally regarding
changes in climate that are threatening to transform the
livelihoods of the vulnerable population segments.
According to Pacific et al. (20105the earth’s climate
has warmed on average by about 0.7°C over the past
100 years with decades of the 1990s and 2000s being
the warmest in the instrumental record.
There has been global concern that climate change
might have negative effects on the economies of
countries globally. The negative effects on the
economy resulted to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change in 2009 that was held
in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Convention
encouraged the 37 industrialized countries and the
European community to stabilize GHG emissions as
they were perceived to be the countries responsible for
high levels of emissions compared to other developing
countries. Agriculture was considered among the
factors that were not responsible for climate change as
it contributed far less. Yet, the IPCC Fourth
Assessment Report (2007) showed that agriculture
directly contributed 13.5 percent of global GHG
ARTICLE INFO
Received 5th
April, 2019
Received in Revised Form 17th
May 2019
Accepted on 30th
May, 2019
Published online 1st
June, 2019
Key Words: Climate Variability, Land
Use/Land Cover Water Catchment

15 | P a g e
emissions. Deforestation contributed a further 17
percent and agriculture about one third of global GHG
emissions. By 2100, temperature increases are
expected to approach 3ºC on the coast and 5ºC in the
interior. The greater evaporation rates are expected to
increase incidence and intensity of drought in the
entire world.
The effects on water resources attributed to global
climate variations and land use/cover change in the
past few years have been of great concern. Weather
dynamics is an important variable in the management
of water resources. Mogaka et al. (2006) asserted that
in Kenya, only about 15% of the safe yield of
renewable freshwater resources has been developed.
Therefore the level of development of water resources
has been low and water supply storage volume per
capita has declined dramatically from 11.4 m3
in 1969
to about 4.3 m3
in 1999. This decrease in storage
volume per capita is attributed to population growth.
Based on current water use efficiencies, it is predicted
that aggregate demand will rise by 2020, although this
would still be within the country’s safe yield. Thus, the
country needs to invest adequately in the water storage
capacity, especially due to high rainfall variability and
the changing climate.
Detrimental effects of climate change include: erratic
weather patterns, extreme temperatures, increased
meteorological hazards like floods and tsunamis, El
Niño, prolonged droughts (La Niña) and rising sea
level (Parry et.al. 2007). However despite human
beings are natural drivers of climate change, human
activities have greatly contributed to increased
greenhouse gases which trap heat in the atmosphere,
thereby altering the energy balance of the climate
system (IPCC 2007). Consequently need arises to
undertake studies that will quantify the anthropogenic
effects in order to campaign for sustainable use of
resources that can help to slow or reverse climate
change as observed by Roseland (2012) and therefore
need to incorporate LULC studies in investigating
climate change.
Statement of the Problem
The interaction between land use changes and climate
variability are potential causes for the changes and
alterations of land use in world today. Methodical
scrutiny of the land use changes over a given time
period will help to give an explanation of new land use
changes and their implications on climate change.
Anthropogenic distresses are increasingly causing
changes in land use and land cover resulting in large
areas dominated by crop farming and urban
development, which cumulatively contribute to the
interference of the hydrological cycle thereby
resulting to dynamics in climatic conditions. The
dynamics of land use /cover and climate variability
have been aggravated by poor packaging of the
information without due consideration of the needs
and priorities of end-users under different land-use
systems as justified by the case study of Njoro river
catchment. In some cases within Njoro river
catchment, emphasis is made to a single land use
system without considering other land-uses and
climate variability, yet they coexist as a unit. This
would facilitate a shift from passive acceptance of
climate variability and related impacts on land
use/cover. Hence this study will try to integrate the
dynamics of land use/cover and climate variability in
the Njoro river catchment by: Evaluating the land-use
and land cover patterns and changes in Njoro River
catchment between 1996 and 2016, analyzing the
temperature and rainfall variations between 1996 and
2016 and finally comparing the land use/cover
changes with the variation in the rainfall and
temperature quantities in river Njoro catchment
between 1996 and 2016.
Literature Review
Land use/Land cover
Many times, “Land use” and “Land cover” are used
interchangeably; however each term has a very
specific meaning with some fundamental differences.
On one hand Land cover denotes the biophysical cover
over the land surface which includes: vegetation,
urban infrastructure, water and bare soil. Therefore
land use does not describe the use of land, which may
be different for lands with the same cover type. On the
other hand, land use refers to the purpose the land
serves, and describes human influence of the land, or
immediate actions modifying or converting land cover
(Ellis, 2009). Conclusively therefore, Land cover is
the "physical state of the earth's surface and immediate
subsurface, while land use involves both the manner in
which the biophysical attributes of the land are
manipulated with the intent underlying that
manipulation".
Differences may also be made between changes in
land cover and changes in land use.
Changes in land cover leads to change in cover type
where for example forest is converted to pasture,
cropland is converted to woodland and agriculture
land is converted to urban, and change in cover
characteristics. Changes in land use would mean
change in land management practices or ownership,
intensification, mechanization, irrigation,
abandonment, cropping system. Land-use and land-

16 | P a g e
cover change (LULCC) is a general term for the
human modification of the earth's terrestrial surface
(Ellis, 2010). LULCC modifies surface albedo and
thus surface-atmospheric energy exchanges, which
have an impact on the regional climate. Since
terrestrial ecosystems are sources and sinks of carbon,
any change in land-use/cover impact the global
climate via the carbon cycle. The contribution of local
evapotranspiration to the water cycle as a function of
land cover also impacts the climate at a local to
regional scale as observed by Lambin et al. (2003).
Land-use and land-cover changes are one of the main
human induced activities altering the hydrological
characteristics of rivers. Land-use changes can also
have an important impact on the water quality and
energy balance, directly affecting climatic conditions.
The impacts of these land-use changes become
globally significant through their accumulative effects
as observed by Turner et al. (2003). The intense
human utilization of land resources has resulted in
significant changes of the land-use and land-cover
(Baker& Miller, 2013).
Disasters from climate/weather related natural
phenomena and those occasioned by anthropogenic
factors cause land degradation such as deforestation,
poor agricultural practices and inappropriate land use
systems. Land-use changes are known to have an
impact on the hydrology of any catchment area
(Bronstert & Bürger, 2002). Deforestation and forest
degradation are the most important land-use change
processes in the river Njoro catchment. These
processes are important threats to the biodiversity and
hydrology of Njoro river catchment. In spite of
different policies that aimed at reducing logging,
recent commercial deforestation, illegal logging,
settlement expansion and agricultural expansion pose
an important threat to the remaining forested and water
catchment areas.
Climate variability
Environmental changes are attributed to the fact that
the natural and artificial earth surface features are in a
state of flux. According to Jensen, (2005) the rate of
these changes is not uniformly distributed, but
depends on the interactions of the biophysical and
human components. Some environmental changes
largely witnessed today in the developing countries
include changes in forest characteristics as a result of
human induced deforestation processes, ecological
changes due to the need for agricultural expansion and
land use/land cover changes due to increased
population (Lambin et al., 2003). Olang et al. (2011)
observes that in the last couple of years, significant
attention has been given to land use and land cover
changes, because they form a major component of
global changes with greater impact than that of climate
change. The land cover has resulted to land cover
conversion and modification.
According to the intergovernmental panel on climate
change (IPCC, 2007) climate variability is occurring
and manifested in the intra- and inter-seasonal events
such as intense rainfall and prolonged dry spells.
Consequently continued climate variability results to
climate change. Cruz et al. (2007) defined climate
change as variations through increase in frequency and
intensity of extreme weather events of storm, flood,
drought and irregular rain over time thereby signaling
irregular climatic trends. The Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report
(2007) forecasted that by 2100, the increase in average
surface temperature would be between 1.8ºC and
4.0ºC globally (Busisiwe, 2011). The IPCC panel
predicted a more pronounced increase in temperatures
in the African continent, to be 1.5 times greater than at
the global level.
According to Tompkins and Adger (2004), climate
change is likely to be manifested in four main ways:
slow changes in mean climate conditions; increased
inter-annual and seasonal variability; increased
frequency of extreme events; and rapid climate change
causing catastrophic shifts in ecosystems. The
potential effects on water resources due to global
climate change and land use/cover change in the past
few decades have been of great concern. Weather is an
important variable in the management of water
resources and Mogaka et al. (2006) observes that in
Kenya, for example, only about 15% of the safe yield
of renewable freshwater resources has been
developed.
Historic changes in land use have been known to alter
the land surface significantly. Since the early 19th
century, there has been a substantial increase in the
area of cropland in the middle latitudes of the Northern
Hemisphere. The pronounced tropical deforestation
during the 20th
century has paralleled the large-scale
development of urban settlements and irrigated
agriculture.
The land-cover changes have resulted in a number of
alterations in the regional and global climate system,
primarily by: changing the surface albedo, changing
the surface evapotranspiration, modifying winds, heat
wave resilience, vulnerability to floods and other such
factors in the proximity of human settlements and
finally modifying atmospheric carbon dioxide uptake.
Decreased forest cover generally increases the surface
albedo, thereby reducing the net energy available at

17 | P a g e
the surface. Foley et al. (2005) observed with
increasing world population, the demand for food
production continues to rise and this has led to
significant expansion of areas under agriculture,
especially in the tropics. Between 2000 and 2005,
DeFries et al. (2010) identified urban population
growth and agricultural trade as the main drivers of
forest loss in the tropics. Finally Gibbs et al. (2010)
estimated that 55% of new agricultural land in the
tropics between 1980 and 2000 came from intact
forests while a further 28% came from disturbed
forests.
Land use/cover trends-Climate nexus
LULC is essential in order to investigate the effects of
climate change, whereby land use plays an important
role by influencing the surface-energy budgets and the
carbon-cycle effects. Land‐use change is related to
climate change as both a causal factor and a major way
in which the effects of climate change are expressed.
As a causal factor, land use influences the flux of mass
and energy, and as land‐cover patterns change, these
fluxes are altered. Projected climate alterations will
produce changes in land‐cover patterns at a variety of
temporal and spatial scales, although human uses of
the land are expected to override many effects.
Changes in LULC are driven by the need for more
energy, food, and other resources to support a growing
population, thereby resulting to changing the physical
properties of the land surface as observed by Baldyga
et al. (2008). The dynamics in LULC in turn, affect the
surface albedo properties, which affect the amount of
reflected or absorbed energy to the atmosphere. The
shrinking of the area under forest cover particularly
undermines the ability of ecosystems to regulate
climate and air quality, while decreasing carbon sink
areas.
Climate change is a pertinent issue in the global space
due to the adverse effects associated with it, which
pose a lot of threat to the existence of man and his
environment. Climate change is one of the greatest
environmental issues of our time. It is global in its
causes but its consequences are far more elaborate in
developing countries. Climate change refers to
changes in climate overtime, due to natural variability
as observed over a time-period or a direct (indirect)
human activity which may alter the components of
global atmosphere. The interest in land use and land
cover is a result of climate variability. Therefore a
systematic analysis of local land use changes over a
given time frame helps to uncover general principles
to provide an explanation of new land use trends and
their implications in the catchment degradation.
Anthropogenic activities are increasingly causing
changes in land use and land cover resulting in
landscapes widely dominated by agricultural activities
and human settlement which eventually lead to
changes in climatic conditions through their effects on
the water cycle. Long term degradation of river
catchments is triggered by human activities
consequently making Kenya vulnerable to experience
shortage in water supply. Climate variability leads to
changes in precipitation and temperature. In Kenya,
the future of sustainable water catchment management
is anchored on sound policies of sustainable
environmental management. Unsustainable land use
practices are major causes of land and water catchment
degradation
Conceptual framework
Fig 3: Conceptual framework of land use/cove-climate variation nexus and likely impacts
Land use/cover dynamics would be result of climate
variability and vice versa. Rainfall and temperature
variation would result to Stress on land evidenced by
land use change and land degradation can have
adverse impacts on human security.
Increasing/decreasing temperatures, higher/lower
precipitation variability, due to climate change have
the potential of triggering land use/cover dynamics.
Consequently one of the interconnections is land and
variations in climatic conditions but through human
interference of population growth, rapid urbanization,
and consequent increasing pressure on ecosystem
resources. The Land use/cover dynamics-climate
Temperature
Variation
 Water scarcity
 Drought
 Seasonal flooding
 Food crisis
 Land use change
 Catchment
degradation
Rainfall Variation
IMPAC

18 | P a g e
variability nexus on extreme would result to Water
scarcity, drought, seasonal flooding and food crisis.
Justification for the study
The Njoro river catchment is the lifeline Nakuru
County. The catchment is considered one of the more
significant sub catchments of Eastern Mau. The
catchment has various land uses/covers which have
been greatly modified and changed in the recent past.
The dynamics of the land use/cover would be
attributed to climate variability. There is growing
concern regarding land degradation particularly
deforestation in the upper catchment that is affecting
the water availability and the river flows.
Consequently therefore the study will give the
scenario status of climate variability whether
attributed to encroachment of the Njoro River
catchment and therefore advise on water resource
planning and management policy and plan appropriate
mitigation measures.
Research Design and Methodology
The study adopted content analysis and descriptive
research designs. Descriptive research was used to
discuss land use/cover changes and to describe the
relationship between the changes and the climate
variability phenomena in the River Njoro catchment.
Secondly desktop literature on land use/cover and
climate variability was used to supplement the land
use/cover and climate variability nexus. The rainfall
and temperature data was obtained from Egerton
university meteorological station with Rainfall and
temperature figures ranging between 1996 and 2016
subjected to graphical and tabular presentations.
The Njoro topographical map of 1:50,000 scale was
used to delineate and digitize the study area.
The images for 1996, 2006 and 2016 of the scene of
River Njoro catchment were employed to come up
with a land use and cover analysis of 1996 to 2016.
The period 1996 to 2016 is significant in the Njoro
catchment because this is the period when eastern Mau
witnessed encroachment of the forested area resulting
to mushrooming of urban and rural settlement in areas
that were formerly covered by forests. The imagery
classification in this study was based on Earth
Resources Data Analysis System (ERDAS) and
Landsat images for the respective years. The images
were first classified to define the land use types of the
study area. The land use types represented by the
various classes were identified. Supervised
classification using maximum likelihood algorithm
was adopted using 6 land use/cover categories based
on the information from Landsat images and available
maps of the area.
Study Area
The study area in this study is defined as the area
covered by the catchment of river Njoro in the Lake
Nakuru catchment as shown in figure 1. The River
Njoro is located in Nakuru County in the former Rift
Valley Province in Kenya. River Njoro originates at an
elevation of about 3,000 m above sea level in the
Eastern Mau Escarpment and descend in a northeast
direction before terminating at Lake Nakuru on the
floor of the Rift Valley at about 1,800 m above sea
level.
The River Njoro catchment is part of the larger Lake
Nakuru catchment, and one of the rivers originating
from the Eastern Mau forest of the Mau Complex and
draining into the Lake Nakuru. The River Njoro
catchment is a high potential area and is under
intensive cultivation. The forested hill slopes of the
catchment have undergone extensive deforestation,
which has led to increased soil erosion, low recharge
and remarkable fluctuation in stream flows. The River
Njoro Watershed covers approximately 280 km2
(Enanga et al., 2011). The River Njoro watershed is
located Kenya’s southwestern Rift Valley at 0°30'
South 35°20' East whereas the river itself is
approximately 50 km in length. The Njoro Watershed
constitutes a critical water source for Lake Nakuru; a
large shallow saline lake designated a Ramsar
wetlands site of international importance.
Results and Discussion
The land cover/land use categories that were identified
include; forests, agriculture, commercial, residential
and shrub land.
Table 1: Land Use/Land Cover Changes in the River Njoro Catchment
LAND USE/COVER
CLASSES
1995 (Ha) 2008 (Ha) 2016 (Ha) Increase/Decrease
FOREST 10158.04 9686.41 7052.85 Decrease
AGRICULTURE 8595.43 9005.23 8660.17 Increase
RESIDENTIAL 3136.1 3460.05 5771.55 Increase
COMMERCIAL 1545.21 1618.65 2673.57 Increase
SHRUBLAND 2492.33 2129.04 1771.46 Decrease
WATER 1026.27 1054 1023.78 Decrease
TOTAL 26953.38 26953.38 26953.38

19 | P a g e
The areas of different land uses/ land cover as
calculated were found to range from 37.68% and 3.8%
in forest and water body, respectively (Table 1). Water
body was found to have the smallest area probably
because river classification was difficult since water
was not visible but the riparian vegetation marked
river’s route. Additionally natural forests, secondary
forest, and the agro forests were not separated in this
study which could be associated with the higher
percentage of forest cover. On the other hand,
agriculture is the main economic activity within the
study area. The results from the land sat images
indicate that the area under: forest, scrubland and
water reduced between 1995 and 2016 while the area
residential settlement, commercial and agriculture
reduced within the years.
Figure 1: Land use/cover of river Njoro catchment (1996) Source; Author
Figure 2: land use/cover of river Njoro catchment (2016). Source; Author

20 | P a g e
Figure 3; mean annual temperature at Egerton University meteorological station
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
TOTALRAINFALL(MM)
YEARS
TOTAL ANNUAL RAINFALL 1996-2016

21 | P a g e
Temperature rainfall trends
18
18.5
19
19.5
20
20.5
21
21.5
22
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
MEANANNUALTEMPERATURE(oc)
YEARS
MEAN ANNUAL TEMPERATURE

22 | P a g e
The rainfall from the Njoro University meteorological
station showed that the rainfall received in the years
1999, 2000. 2005 and 2009 was less than 1000mm
while all the other years between 1996 and 2016
received more than 1000mm p.a. However the years
2003, 2004 and 2010 received higher rainfall with the
highest of 1600 mm received in 2010. On the other
hand the highest mean annual temperature was
experienced in the years 2015 and 2009. But all the
other year between 1996 and 2016 received moderate
average annual temperature of about 200
c.
Conclusively therefore the River Njoro catchment did
not experience extreme climate variability between
1996 and 2015.
The land use/cover changes climate variation-
nexus in the river Njoro catchment between 1996
and 2016
Table 2 shows the land use/cover changes and the
average annual rainfall and temperature in the river
Njoro catchment between 1996 and 2016. The
percentage area of each class in 1996 and 2016 showed
that the area under forest and scrubland decreased
significantly by 12% and 6% respectively while the
area under residential, agriculture and commercial
significantly increased by between 4 and 13% of the
total LULC categories assigned. However during the
period between 1985 and 1995 the Njoro catchment
didn’t experience significant variation in the average
annual rainfall and temperature. Conversion of forest
to agricultural land settlement was also significant.
The data would suggest that the increase in
deforestation would have been due to increase in
agricultural land. Therefore if deforestation continues
the Njoro river catchment is bound to face the negative
impact of soil erosion, high temperature finally the
negative impacts would further lead to climatic
changes.
Table 2: Land use/cover changes and the Average annual rainfall and temperature in the Njoro river
catchment
YEAR LAND
USE/COVER
AREA(Ha) EFFECT AVER. ANNUAL
RAINFALL
AVER. ANNUAL
TEMP
1985-1996 Forest 9746 35.09% (D)
946.5 mm/a 233.60
c
Agriculture 8595 30.95% (D)
Residential 4991 17.97% (I)
Commercial 1517 5.46% (I)
Scrubland 2924 10.52% (D)
1996-2006 Forest 7141 25.71% (D)
1017.47 mm/a 236.90
c
Agriculture 9505 34.22% (I)
2006-2016 Forest 6403 23.05% (D)
1164.95 mm/a 242.00
c
Agriculture 8760 31.54% (D)
Conclusion
The changes in LULC revealed competing land uses,
particularly involving forest, agriculture and
residential and commercial settlement. Comparing the
LULC changes to rainfall and temperature trends, the
loss of green cover had insignificant relationship. The
wanton destruction of Njoro river catchment over time
has alike hood of triggering climate change with
negative impacts such as; frequent cyclic droughts,
rising temperatures, reduced water levels, erratic
rainfall and destructive floods. Therefore there is
serious need to adopt The ‘Greening Kenya’
programme which is projected to establish between
30,000 – 40,000 Ha of forests by 2022 and increase
forest cover from 7% to 10% as recommended by
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
This study revealed that there was increase of area
under settlement and commercial between 1986 and
2016. This value signified the dramatic land cover
change on the category of built up surface exerting an
incredible pressure on non-built up surfaces
particularly forests and scrubland. Expansion of the

23 | P a g e
already existing urban centers through rapid
construction sites of residential units, commercial and
road networks all combined together led to continuous
expansion of built up surfaces in the different corners
of the Njoro river catchment. However despite the
great changes in land use/cover changes in the Njoro
river catchment the annual rainfall and average annual
temperature didn’t show significant variations
between 1985 and 2016. The forested and large-scale
farm areas have been converted mainly into small-
scale mixed agriculture and human settlements and
this is manifested by the significant increase in the area
under settlement while the area under forest has
significantly reduced.
Conclusively the dynamics of land use/land cover in
the river Njoro would be more attributed to
anthropogenic activities than climate variability. And
therefore in the words of Prof Wangari Maathai, “I
have been trying to convince others in government and
in the community that we need to stop cutting or
cultivating crops in our indigenous forests (Maathai,
2011). When the forests are cleared, rivers and streams
dry up, biodiversity is lost, and rainfall becomes
erratic. This threatens farmers’ livelihoods and has
negative impacts on other species as habitats and the
water catchment areas are lost.” Further Prof. Maathai
asserted, “I keep telling people, let us not cut trees
irresponsibly...especially the forested mountains.
Because if you destroy the forests, the rivers will stop
flowing and the rains will become irregular and the
crops will fail and you will die of hunger and
starvation. Now the problem is, people don't make
those linkages” (The Green Belt Movement
Watershed Workshop).
References
Baldyga, T. J., Miller, S. N., Driese, K. L., & Gichaba,
C. M. (2008).Assessing Land Cover Change in
Kenya's Mau Forest Region using Remotely Sensed
data. African Journal of Ecology, 46(1), 46-54
Baker, T. J., & Miller, S. N. (2013). Using the Soil and
Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to assess land use
impact on water resources in an East African
watershed. Journal of hydrology, 486, 100-111.
Bronstert, A., Niehoff, D., & Bürger, G. (2002).
Effects of Climate and Land‐use Change on Storm
Runoff generation: Present Knowledge and Modelling
Capabilities. Hydrological Processes, 16(2), 509-529.
Busisiwe, M. (2011). Impact of Climate Change and
adaptation on Cattle and Sheep Farming in the Eastern
Cape Province of south Africa Doctor of Philosophy
Environmental Management University of South
Africa
DeFries RS, Rudel TK, Uriarte M, Hansen M. 2010.
Deforestation Driven by Urban Population Growth
and Agricultural Trade in the Twenty-First Century.
Nature Geoscience 3: 178 –181.
Ellis, E., (2010). Land-use, In Encyclopedia of
Earth.Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland, Washington, D.C.236
Ellis E., (2009). Land-cover, In Encyclopedia of
Earth.Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland, Washington, D.C.
Tompkins, E. and Adger, W. (2004). Does Adaptive
Management of Natural Resources Enhance
Resilience to Climate change? Ecology and Society, 9
(2), 10.
Enanga, E.M & W. A. Shivoga, W. A, Maina, C. G &
I. F. Creed, (2014).Observing Changes in Riparian
Buffer Strip Soil Properties Related to Land Use
Activities in the River Njoro Watershed, Kenya. Water
Air Soil Pollut DOI 10.1007/s11270-010-0670
Foley, J. A, DeFries R, Asner GP, Barford C, Bonan
G, Carpenter SR, Chapin FS, Coe MT, Daily G.C.,
Gibbs Helkowski J. H, Holloway T, Howard EA,
Kucharik CJ, Monfreda C, Patz, J. A, Prentice I.C,
Ramankutty N, Snyder PK. 2005. Global
consequences of land use.Science 309: 570–574.
Gibbs HK, Ruesch A.S, Achard F., Clayton M.K,
Holmgren P, Ramankutty N, Foley JA. (2010).
Tropical Forests were the Primary Sources of new
Agricultural land in the 1980s and 1990s. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences 107: 16732–
16737.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
(2007). Impacts, Adaptations and Vulnerability.
Fourth Assessment Report. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, UK.
Jensen, J. R., 2005. Introductory Digital Image
Processing: A Remote Sensing Perspective (3rd
edition). Prentice Hall series in geographic
information science. Upper Saddle
Lambin, E. F., & Geist, H. J. (Eds.). (2008). Land-use
and Land-cover Change: Local Processes and global
Impacts. Springer Science & Business Media.
Lambin, E.F., H.J. Geist, and E. Lepers, (2003).
Dynamics of land –use and Land-cover Change in
Tropical Regions, Annu. Rev. Environ. Resource,
28:205–41.
Li, C. and Huu N.N. (2007).Climate Change: Impacts,
Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of
Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Asia.
Kundu P. M., Chemelil M.C., Onyando J. O and
Gichaba M. (2008). The Use of GIS and Remote
Sensing to Evaluate the Impact of Land Cover and
Land Use Change on Discharges in the River Njoro

24 | P a g e
Watershed, Kenya. Journal of World Association on
Soil Water Conservation J2: 109–120.
Maathai, W. (2011). Challenge for Africa.
Sustainability Science, 6(1), 1-2.
Mogaka, H., S. Gichere, R. Davis and R. Hirji. (2006).
Climate Variability and Water Resources Degradation
in Kenya Improving- Water Resources Development
and Management. World Bank Working Paper No. 69.
IPCC, 2007; Summary for Policy Makers in Climate
Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
Contributions of Working Group II to the Fourth
Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change.
Palutikof, P.J. Van der Linden and C.E Hanson (ed)
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1000
Olang, L. O., & Fürst, J. (2011). Effects of Land Cover
Change on Flood Peak Discharges and Runoff
Volumes: Model estimates for the Nyando River
Basin, Kenya. Hydrological Processes, 25(1), 80-89.
Ott, B., &Uhlenbrook, S. (2004). Quantifying the
Impact of Land-use Changes at the Event and Seasonal
Time Scale Using a Process-Oriented Catchment
Model. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
Discussions, 8(1), 62-78.
River, NJ, USA
Pacifici, M., Foden, W. B., Visconti, P., Watson, J. E.,
Butchart, S. H., Kovacs, K. M. & Corlett, R. T.
(2015). Assessing species Vulnerability to Climate
Change. Nature climate change, 5(3), 215.
Roseland, M. 2012. Toward Sustainable
Communities: Solutions for Citizens and their
Governments (4.Ed). Gabriola Island, BC: New
Society Publ.
Shivoga, W.A., Mucai M., Kibichi, S., Odanga, J.,
Scott N. M.,Tracy J. B., Enanga, E. M and Gichaba, C.
M (2007); Influences of land use/cover on water
quality in the upper and middle reaches of River Njoro,
Kenya. Lakes & Reservoirs: Research and
Management 2007 12: 97–105
Tompkins, E. L., & Adger, W. N. (2004). Does
Adaptive Management of Natural Resources Enhance
Resilience to Climate Change? Ecology and Society,
9(2).
Turner, R. E. and Rabalais, N. N. (2003): Linking
landscape and Water Quality in the Mississippi
River Basin for 200 years. Journal of
Bioscience, 2(53): 563-572

Land use-cover-trends-climate-variability-nexus-in-the-njoro-river-catchment

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Land use-cover-trends-climate-variability-nexus-in-the-njoro-river-catchment

Similar to Land use-cover-trends-climate-variability-nexus-in-the-njoro-river-catchment (20)

More from oircjournals

More from oircjournals (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Land use-cover-trends-climate-variability-nexus-in-the-njoro-river-catchment