Wetlands Change and Distance from Ankobra River

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3.4 Wetlands Change and Distance from Ankobra River

At this point, it is clear that the dynamics of wetlands over the two decade interval – as to whether there is net sum increase or decrease – varies with distance. For instance, as earlier established, there is net sum increase in wetlands within 50 meter buffer from Ankobra as compared with a general fall in the land cover in the entire study area which is within 2.5 km buffer. Stemming from this, the details of wetlands gains and losses at varying distances from the River has been closely examined and presented by figure 3.6. Figure 8 Wetlands Change and Distance from Ankobra River Source: Spatial Solutions 2015 Based on Forestry Commission ’s Land Cover Data From figure 3.6, distance of 200 meters from Ankobra was the turning point beyond which wetlands generally began to fall. What differs after the 200 meter is the extent of fall in the land cover. Preceding the turning point distance 200 m, the annual rate of growth in the land cover increased from 0.7 percent within 50 meter buffer to 2.4 percent between 50 and 100 meter buffer and attained its peak of 4.4 percent between 100 and 200 meter buffer. The rate then started turning negative between 200 and 300 meter buffer and reached an alarming - 16.2 percent in the 300 – 400meter buffer. The annual rate at which wetlands were diminishing decreased to -11.5 percent in the 400 – 500 meter but only to resume an increase in the 0.5 – 1 km buffer and further to 1 – 1.5 km. The last buffer 2 - 2.5 km in the study area recorded the highest annual decline rate of 16.5 percent. Spatial evidence of the rate of depletion in wetlands with increasing distance from the River is presented by figure 3.7. The heavy decline in the 0.5 to 2.5 km buffers is largely influenced by the loss in the Ezoni Suaso area. -20 -15 -10 -5 5 10 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 50 m 50 - 100 m 10 0 - 200 m 20 0 - 300 m 30 0 - 400 m 40 0 - 500 m 0.5 - 1 km 1 - 1 .5km 1.5 - 2 k m 2 - 2 .5 k m An n u al G ro w th Rat e Are a 000 m 2 Distance Buffer from River 1990 2010 Annual Growth Rate 17 Figure 9 Spatial Overview of Wetlands Change and Distance from Ankobra Source: Spatial Solutions 2015 Based on Forestry Commission ’s Land Cover Data

3.5 Dynamics of Wetland Change in Study Area, 1990 – 2010