Assessing land use and land cover change in coastal urban wetlands of international importance in Ghana using Intensity Analysis

In the era of global environmental change, land transformation is acknowledged as a critical subject that needs to be addressed. Even though some studies have been carried out in Ghana on land use and land cover (LULC) change of wetlands, the conventional methods used were unable to reveal the underlying processes associated with the land transformation. This study employed Intensity Analysis to assess LULC change pattern (1985–2017) in three coastal urban wetlands of international importance in Ghana in order to identify the fundamental processes driving the wetland landscape transformation. Wetlands considered for this study were the Densu Delta, Sakumo II and Muni-Pomadze Ramsar Sites. The observed overall annual change in the first time interval; 2.42% (Densu Delta), 1.47% (Sakumo II) and 2.65% (Muni-Pomadze) was smaller compared to that of the second time interval 2.60% (Densu Delta), 3.55% (Sakumo II) and 2.91% (Muni-Pomadze). The human-induced LULC categories continuously grew at the expense of natural LULC categories. Large transitions from natural LULC categories to built-up were observed in all the three wetlands and in addition, large transition of dense forest to cultivated land was recorded at the Muni-Pomadze Ramsar Site. The main underlying process associated with land transformation in the wetlands was urbanization. Besides, agricultural activities also contributed substantially to LULC changes at the Muni-Pomadze wetland.