Land-use and land cover change dynamics in urban Ghana: implications for peri-urban livelihoods

This paper examined the dynamics of urban land use and land cover change, and their implications for livelihoods in peri-urban Tamale, Ghana. The study employed household data and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) for 1986, Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM +) for 2004 and Landsat 8 Operationalised Landsat Imager/Thermal Infrared Sensor (OLIS/TIRS) for 2019. The findings show that the urban expansion process witnessed a transition from agricultural livelihood to a more complex and monetised urban economy, which presented mixed impacts on the livelihoods of the peri-urban households. We argued that the horizontal expansion of urban areas into prime agricultural lands could be halted by promoting vertical development in the form of multi-storey buildings rather than the horizontal multiplication of individual housing units. Supporting the peri-urban households to diversify their livelihood portfolios by venturing into beekeeping, poultry farming, and livestock keeping, which do not require large tracts of land is recommended.