Urban Growth and Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics in the Municipality of Ziguinchor, Senegal, West Africa : A Remote Sensing Approach

Abstract

Urbanisation is a major driver of landscape transformation in West Africa, resulting in the gradual conversion of natural areas into built environments and the degradation of ecosystem services. In Ziguinchor, this process is reflected in the continuous expansion of built-up areas at the expense of vegetation cover, while knowledge of long-term Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) dynamics remains limited. This study aimed to map the LULC classes of the Municipality of Ziguinchor, analyse their spatio-temporal dynamics between 1986 and 2026, and assess the principal landscape transformations associated with anthropisation and the conversion of landscape units. The study used a remote-sensing approach based on Landsat imagery from the TM, OLI, and TIRS sensors, processed through supervised classification in ENVI Classic 5.3 and QGIS. LULC changes were analysed using transition matrices, the annual vegetation loss rate, and the anthropisation index. The results show a substantial increase in built-up areas, from 1,252.8 ha in 1986 to 1,992.6 ha in 2026, while vegetated areas decreased from 577.44 ha to 421.92 ha over the same period. The analyses also indicate increasing human-induced landscape transformation and declining stability of vegetation formations, which were predominantly converted into urban areas. These findings provide a basis for integrating higher-resolution satellite data, applying machine-learning methods, and assessing the effects of urbanisation on ecosystem services to inform sustainable land-use planning and the conservation of green spaces in the Municipality of Ziguinchor.