Land use and land cover change in the Western Cape Province: quantification of changes & understanding of driving factors

Abstract

The Western Cape Province is currently faced with population growth, declining household sizes, increasing household numbers, high levels of migration, urbanization and escalating development pressures. These factors have consequently triggered changes in land use and land cover (LULC) and incited issues such as urban sprawl, marginalization of the poor, limited public access to resources, land degradation and climate change. This paper seeks to understand the most significant drivers of LULC change in the Western Cape Province. Focus is given to the major LULC changes which have occurred in the Province in past 24 years by integrating a desktop study of LULC changes using the 1990 and 2013-2014 South African National LULC datasets; document analysis; and expert opinion in the form of semi-structured interviews with municipal town planners. An adapted Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) Framework is used to analyse and understand LULC changes in the study area. LULC changes are driven by political, economic, technological, demographic, biophysical and cultural factors that must be considered in strategies and policies in future planning to avoid detrimental impacts on the environment whilst maintaining socio-economic benefits.