Multiple methods in the study of driving forces of land use and land cover change: A case study of SE Kajiado District, Kenya

This landscape-scale study combines analysis of multitemporal satellite imagery spanning 30 years and information from field studies extending over 25 years to assess the extent and causes of land use and land cover change in the Loitokitok area, southeast Kajiado District, Kenya. Rain fed and irrigated agriculture, livestock herding, and wildlife and tourism have all experienced rapid change in their structure, extent, and interactions over the past 30 years in response to a variety of economic, cultural, political, institutional, and demographic processes. Land use patterns and processes are explored through a complementary application of interpretation of satellite imagery and case study analysis that explicitly addresses the local-national spatial scale over a time frame appropriate to the identification of fundamental causal processes. The results illustrate that this combination provides an effective basis for describing and explaining patterns of land use and land cover change and their root causes.