Eine Plattform für die Wissenschaft: Bauingenieurwesen, Architektur und Urbanistik
Eine Plattform für die Wissenschaft: Bauingenieurwesen, Architektur und Urbanistik
Assessing Impacts of Land Use Changes on the Hydrology of a Lowland Rainforest Catchment in Ghana, West Africa
Impact assessments of actual and potential land use (LU) changes on hydrology are vital in land use planning, which is a prerequisite for effective water resources management. In this study, impacts of actual, as well as potential, LU changes on the hydrology of the Bonsa catchment (1482 km2), Ghana, West Africa, were assessed using the Agricultural Catchments Research Unit (ACRU) hydrological model. Baseline, current and potential future LU maps for three scenarios, namely, business-as-usual (BAU), economic growth (EG) and economic growth and reforestation (EGR), driven by observed climate between 1990 and 2009, were used for the study. The results indicate that peak and dry season streamflows between 1991 and 2011 have increased by 21% and 37%, respectively, under the current land use in comparison to the baseline due to a decrease in evergreen and secondary forests by 18% and 39%, respectively, and an increase in settlements, mining areas and shrubs/farms by 81%, 310% and 343%, respectively. The potential future LU scenarios suggest that there may be further increases in streamflows, but the historical land use changes between 1991 and 2011 were so substantial that they will continue to impact streamflow changes in any of the future land use scenarios. The study also showed that variability of streamflow changes at the catchment scale was lower than at the subcatchment scale. For the scenarios of potential future LU changes, the BAU shows the highest increases in streamflows, while the EGR shows the least. Policy interventions for effective management of the catchment are recommended.
Assessing Impacts of Land Use Changes on the Hydrology of a Lowland Rainforest Catchment in Ghana, West Africa
Impact assessments of actual and potential land use (LU) changes on hydrology are vital in land use planning, which is a prerequisite for effective water resources management. In this study, impacts of actual, as well as potential, LU changes on the hydrology of the Bonsa catchment (1482 km2), Ghana, West Africa, were assessed using the Agricultural Catchments Research Unit (ACRU) hydrological model. Baseline, current and potential future LU maps for three scenarios, namely, business-as-usual (BAU), economic growth (EG) and economic growth and reforestation (EGR), driven by observed climate between 1990 and 2009, were used for the study. The results indicate that peak and dry season streamflows between 1991 and 2011 have increased by 21% and 37%, respectively, under the current land use in comparison to the baseline due to a decrease in evergreen and secondary forests by 18% and 39%, respectively, and an increase in settlements, mining areas and shrubs/farms by 81%, 310% and 343%, respectively. The potential future LU scenarios suggest that there may be further increases in streamflows, but the historical land use changes between 1991 and 2011 were so substantial that they will continue to impact streamflow changes in any of the future land use scenarios. The study also showed that variability of streamflow changes at the catchment scale was lower than at the subcatchment scale. For the scenarios of potential future LU changes, the BAU shows the highest increases in streamflows, while the EGR shows the least. Policy interventions for effective management of the catchment are recommended.
Assessing Impacts of Land Use Changes on the Hydrology of a Lowland Rainforest Catchment in Ghana, West Africa
Michael S. Aduah (Autor:in) / Graham P. W. Jewitt (Autor:in) / Michele L. W. Toucher (Autor:in)
2017
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Unbekannt
Metadata by DOAJ is licensed under CC BY-SA 1.0
Assessing suitability of the ACRU hydrological model in a rainforest catchment in Ghana, West Africa
| Taylor & Francis Verlag | 2017
Impacts of Climate Change and Land Use on River Catchment Hydrology Using Model Downscaling
| HENRY – Bundesanstalt für Wasserbau (BAW) | 2012
CHDM - Catchment Hydrology Distributed Model
| British Library Conference Proceedings | 1995