An Assessment of Land use/ landcover and Shoreline Changes in the Coastal zone of Greater Accra region, Ghana.

Abstract Social-ecological systems found in coastal zones make it one of the complex environments globally. The result of this social-ecological interaction is often unsustainable use of coastal resources. Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) has been recommended and used to manage the complexities that exist in coastal areas. ICZM involves a holistic approach to coastal resource management. However, for effective ICZM and planning, it is vital to obtain necessary information of changes that have occurred in the coastal zone. The study assesses land use/landcover and shoreline changes in the coastal zone of Greater Accra, Ghana, using simple GIS methods. Higher erosion rates were observed in the eastern part of the region, in the Volta estuary than on the western side, in Accra. Results from landcover changes showed significant decrease of vegetation within Greater Accra, with the highest decreases found closer to the coast from 1996 to 2017. However, there were considerable increases in mangroves found within the Densu Delta and Ada, Volta River estuary. Land use/urbanization was high near the coast between 1996 and 2002, it started expanding into the peri-urban areas of Greater Accra between 2002 and 2017. Integration of Google Earth and Landsat satellites images proved to be useful in determining changes in shoreline and land use/landcover in the region. The availability of these satellite images can be useful to minimize the challenge of data accessibility in data poor regions like Greater Accra. The results obtained in this study can be useful to inform management decisions on ICZM in the region. Keywords: Coastal zones, DSAS, GIS, ICZM, Erosion, Accretion, Land use, Landcover, Urbanization, Mangrove