AN ASSESSMENT OF FACTORS THAT FACILITATE LAND USE AND LAND COVER CHANGES IN ELDORET MUNICIPALITY, UASIN GISHU COUNTY, KENYA (Published)
Each land use and land cover type is found on a portion of the earth due to several influential factors. And it stands in a spatial relationship to the other land use and land cover types. The change to which these land use and land cover types is subjected is a function of a number of influential factors, namely, population increase, human behaviour and ideologies, infrastructural developments, planning modes and development values and patterns which ignore any of these factors encourage environmental degradation. Human beings have spread themselves in nearly every part of this planet and their activities are causing more than the extinction of just a few species (Seymour, 1966). The human role in changing the face of the earth is as old as history and yet it has persistently grown. This study is an analytical examination of factors that have facilitated land use and land cover changes using a Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Applications. The results are achieved through observation and analysis based on some industries formed within the period that the author deemed relevant. The study concludes that some of the influential factors include Boundary Extension, Inception of the Government’s Growth Centre Policy and Development Plans. The paper finally recommends that in order to enhance land use development, there is a need to improve on both the land information system and Geographic information systems, so that investors can have ready information on land availability and suitability.
Keywords: Facilitate, Factors, Geographic Information Systems’ (GSI), Land Cover Changes, Remote Sensing (RS), land use