Landscape change and its drivers: a Southern African perspective

Global environmental change is of immense importance as it shows how humans relate with nature. Within the global environmental change debate landscape change analysis is a crucial cog as it expresses how humans relate with the land. Comprehending landscape changes, and its drivers are crucial in forging policies that can mitigate against negative effects of global environmental change. Research on the spatial component of mapping landscape change through land use and land cover maps is well documented in the literature. However, understanding the drivers of landscape change remains poorly understood particularly from developing countries in Africa. The main drivers of landscape change in Southern Africa, are mainly attributed to local causes and global causes. The challenge is how one can adequately comprehend these drivers so as to develop sound land management practices. A framework that is transdisciplinary and that leverages on big data is proposed for the effective modeling and management of landscapes in Southern Africa.