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The overall goal of this thesis is to better understand changes in the spatial pattern of urban growth and its impact on landscape configuration by conducting a case study in Greater Chengdu, an inland megacity in China. The objectives are as follows: 1) Quantifying changes in the spatial pattern of the study area between 2003 and 2013; 2) Evaluating the degree of urban sprawl over that period; 3) Evaluating urban expansion dynamics; and 4) Examining and defining the types of urban growth. Satellite imagery was employed to distinguish and identify different land surface categories. Integrated remote sensing and GIS (Geographic Information System) technique was used to analyse both qualitative and quantitative perspectives regarding the objectives. The results indicate that the urban area of Greater Chengdu doubled from 525.5 km2 to 1191.85 km2 during 2003 to 2013. The geographic footprint demonstrates that the distribution of the built-up area was dispersed and continues to grow more dispersed. The dominant type of urban growth is outward expansion, by which the city grew within a 10 km to 25 km radius surrounding the city center. A substantial infill phenomenon exists between a 5 km and 10 km radius from the city center. The urban core boundary expanded outward by 5 km, while the fringe of suburban area expanded outward by 10 km during the time period, which both indicate a substantial outward expansion over the city. The significant contribution of this study could benefit to many aspects such as comparative studies between cities or continuous studies relevant to urban growth.

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The aim of this research is to test the feasibility of using remote sensing-based information products and services to support the planning, monitoring and evaluation of recovery after disaster. The thesis begins by outlining the process of post-disaster recovery, what it entails and who is involved. The data and information needs at different stages of the disaster cycle are introduced and the importance of monitoring and evaluating post-disaster recovery is discussed. The literature review introduces the high-spatial-resolution remote sensing market and the technology focusing on current sensors’ capabilities. This is followed by a review of previous attempts to measure post-disaster recovery by practitioners and academics. At the end of the chapter a list of recovery indicators, suitable for remote sensing analysis, are presented and assessed through a user needs survey. In chapter 3, the six recovery categories and thirteen indicators identified in the literature review form a framework for the retrospective analysis of recovery in Thailand and Pakistan. A selection of results is presented to demonstrate the usefulness of remote sensing as a recovery monitoring tool. To assess its reliability, the results from the satellite image analysis are triangulated against narratives and datasets acquired on the ground. The next two chapters describe work done whilst providing real-time support to two humanitarian agencies operating in Port-au-Prince one-and-a-half years after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Chapter 4 describes how geospatial tools were used to support a British Red Cross integrated reconstruction project for 500 households living in an informal settlement. The chapter describes how geospatial tools were used as a rapid assessment tool, and to support cadastral and enumeration mapping and the community participatory process. While previous chapters focus on the manual analysis of satellite imagery, chapter 5 reports how semi-automatic analyses of satellite imagery were used to support UN-Habitat by monitoring a planned camp and large-scale instances of spontaneous settlement. The conclusion to the thesis summarises the key lessons learnt from the retrospective analysis of recovery in Thailand and Pakistan and the real-time application in Haiti. Recommendations are then made on how to effectively use remote sensing in support of post-disaster recovery focussing on what to measure, when and how. Recognising that a mixed-method approach can best monitor recovery, recommendations are also made on how to integrate remote sensing with existing tools.

The achievement of sustainable and lasting effects from projects is a significant challenge for donors and the agencies implementing and supporting water supply in developing countries. The current estimations for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) suggest that only two out of three water points in rural areas on the continent are functioning at any given time. The region of SSA includes many of the world’s poorest countries, and sustainability of water supply services is vital concerning people without access to safe drinking water. Not surprisingly, many policies and planning decisions are taken without access to adequate data, a situation that increases the risk of inappropriate measures being adopted. The objective of the present study is to address the potential of applying geospatial technology to monitor the sustainability of rural water supply services. It focused on the Wami River Basin in Tanzania due to its diversified use, which benefits a multi-diversity of stakeholders and its role as a vital area for providing water, food and other natural resources. It is in the interest of this study to understanding reasons for “success” and “failure” of water points using Geographic Information Technologies (GIT) based approach to analyse factors of biophysical and human domains that respond to both in time and space. The study analyses the trends in annual and seasonal rainfall time series in the Wami River Basin during 1983–2017 for any significant changes in the patterns and how they affect the access to water supply services in rural areas. First, waterpoint mapping datasets were analysed considering seasonal variation. Later, the study focused on changes in land-use/land-cover patterns upstream and downstream and explored the spatial econometric technique by analysing the impact of land-use/land-cover change on water ecosystem services for domestic use in the basin. Lastly, I provide my vision of the water-food-land nexus giving attention to how it relates to agriculture expansion. I identify trade-offs between and assess the synergies associated with the influence of agriculture intensification and anticipation of water services concerning data availability. The results showed that water points were significantly affected by seasonal changes, both in terms of availability and water quality. There also exists a strong relationship between rural water services and seasons. With a time series of maps, change analysis can reveal the overall development of the land distribution, including the detection of sites of different types of changes. In general, net gain and net loss were observed downstream, indicating that this region was more affected than upstream. I found that all measured land-use/land-cover changes and water point characteristic correlations were statistically significant; therefore, I concluded that land-use/land-cover change affects the water ecosystem in the basin. These findings provide baseline information for decision-makers and stakeholders concerning water supply services for better planning and management decisions in the basin. Furthermore, the approach has contributed to the application of geospatial technologies in rural water supply services and might help pursue sustainability strategies in other basins. The approach based on detailed large-area field data to identify variations in the spatial distribution of the water service supply regarding quality and quantity to a reasonable degree of accuracy. Hence, it presents an excellent opportunity to provide relevant information about water supply services performance in response to spatially and temporally critical importance. However, due to the lack of up-to-date information, it does not cover other essential access aspects concerning the vulnerability of the water services like lack of financial and governance components that play a significant role in the sustainability of rural water supply services. Therefore, more studies should be undertaken to explore the use of Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with different temporal and spatial scales in future research, integrating institutional and socio-economic analyses of environmental sustainability.:Note on the Commencement of the Doctoral Procedure ii Declaration of conformity iii AckAcknowledgements v Abstract vi Zusammenfassung viii 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 The Motivation for Research Issues 3 1.3 Objectives of the Study 7 1.4 Description of the Study Area 7 1.5 The Organisation of the Chapters 11 1.6 References 12 2. Seasonal and Annual Rainfall Variability and Their Impact on Rural Water Supply Services in the Wami River Basin 22 2.1 Abstract 22 2.2 Introduction 23 2.3 Methods and Data 24 2.3.1 Statistical Test for Trend Analysis 25 2.3.2 Simple Regression Model 26 2.3.3 Water Point Mapping System 2.4 Results 29 2.4.1 Annual and Seasonal Rainfall Trends Analysis 29 2.4.2 Dry and Wet Seasonal Variation and Use of Water Points 34 2.5 Discussion 43 2.6 Conclusions 45 2.7 References 46 3. Land-Use and Land-Cover (LULC) Change Detection in the Wami River Basin, Tanzania 54 3.1 Abstract 54 3.2 Introduction 55 3.3 Materials and Methods 57 3.3.1 Data Acquisitions and Preparation 57 3.3.2 Classification and Change Detection 58 3.4 Results 59 3.4.1 Accuracy Assessment 59 3.4.2 Upstream Sub-Catchment (Kinyasungwe) 60 3.4.3 Downstream Sub-Catchment (Wami) 65 3.5 Discussion 68 3.6 Conclusions 70 3.7 References 70 4. Impact of Land-Use/Land-Cover Change on Drinking Water Ecosystem Services in Wami River Basin, Tanzania 78 4.1 Abstract 78 4.2 Introduction 79 4.3 Material and Methods 81 4.3.1 Spatial Regression Analysis 81 4.4 Results 83 4.4.1 Accuracy Assessment 83 4.4.2 Kinyasungwe Sub-Catchment 83 4.4.3 Wami Sub-Catchment 89 4.5 Discussion 95 4.6 Conclusion 97 4.7 References 98 5. Water-Food-Land Nexus and Agriculture Expansion: Prospects for Enhancing Water Ecosystem Services in Tanzania 106 5.1 Abstract 106 5.2 Introduction 107 5.3 Nexus Concept and Interlinkage 109 5.4 Exploring Agriculture Expansion and Drinking Water Supply Services Challenges. 112 5.4.1 Agriculture Expansion Challenges. 112 5.4.2 Water Supply Services Challenges. 113 5.5 Trade-off between Agriculture Expansion and Water Ecosystem Services 114 5.6 Synergies and Role of Data to Improve Accountability in Governance for Sustainable Water Ecosystem Services 116 5.7 The Nexus Approach and Synergies based on improved Management Information Systems (MIS) 118 5.8 Monitoring Drought Resilience based on typologies and a composite Nexus Index 119 5.9 Conclusions 120 5.10 References 121 6. Conclusion, Recommendations and Outlook 134 6.1 Conclusion and Recommendations 134 6.2 Outlook 136

This thesis deals with the use of remote sensing data for studying and monitoring vegetation changes. Thanks to archival materials, we can now make extensive studies at the landscape and global level without the need for large-scale old field data. From the Middle Ages, we can rely on different types of maps, for vegetation studies, these are mainly forestry maps. Since the 1930's, aerial photographs have been available in Europe, and satellite imagery was available since the 1970's. Availability and quality of satellite imagery had increased rapidly during my study. The most recent data source are unmanned aerial systems and methods of processing their data, which allow inexpensive detailed mapping of large areas. The presented publications do not only solve ecological research questions, but also contribute to solving current environmental problems in the Czech Republic, from nature conservation in National Parks and protected areas to monitoring of plant invasions. I have used archival forest maps for the reconstruction and analysis of large disturbances (windthrow and subsequent gradations of bark beetle) in forests of Šumava and the Bavarian Forest in 1868-1870. Species composition, as well as environmental factors derived from digital elevation model, were analyzed. The same topic was also...

Pressure imposed at any one place or point in time results in a complexity of spatial and temporal interactions within topographical ecosystems. It can be propagated through the system and may have implications for future ecosystem functions over a wide array of various spatial and temporal scales. Under conditions of wars and other socio-economic conflicts, these processes are most forceful in developing countries amidst declining economic growth, lack of awareness, deterioration of ecosystem services, loss of existing traditional knowledge bases and weak governance structures. Forests are an essential part of ecosystem services, not only as a resource but as a contributor to biological systems as well. They represent one of the most important sectors in the context of Environmental Change (EC), both from the point of mitigation as well as adaptation. While forests are projected to be adversely impacted under EC, they are also providing opportunities to mitigate these changes. Yet this is one of the least understood sectors, especially at the regional level - many of its fundamental metrics such as mitigation potential, vulnerability and the likely impacts of EC are still not well understood until now. Thus, there is a need for research and field investigations into the synergy of mitigation and adaptation so that the cost of addressing EC impacts can be reduced and the co-benefits can be increased. The aim of this study is to focus particularly on forest-based ecosystem services and to use forests as a strategy for inducing environmental change within the Nuba Mountains in Sudan, specifically for systems in poor condition under EC, and furthermore to explore forests as an entry point for investigating the relationship between urban and rural development and ecosystem services. In addition, the aim is also to raise understanding of the relations between patterns of local-level economic and demographic changes, the nature and value of local ecosystem services, and the role of such services in increasingly interlinked urban and rural livelihood systems. The methodology applied in the current research is three-pronged: a formal literature review, a socio–economic survey (based on semi-structured interviews of household heads via Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA), with a focus on group discussions, informal meetings, free listening and key informant techniques), and multitemporal optical satellite data analysis (i.e. Landsat and RapidEye). Landsat imagery was utilized to gather the spatial characteristics of the region and to study the Land Use/Land Cover (LU/LC) changes during the period from 1984 to 2014. Meanwhile, RapidEye imagery was used to generate the tree species distribution map. Qualitative and quantitative techniques were applied to analyze socio-economic data. Moreover, Food Consumption Score (FCS) was used to gauge both diversity and frequency of food consumption in surveyed areas. Geographic object-based image analysis (i.e. K-Nearest Neighbour classifier and knowledge-based classifiers) based on a developed model of integrated features (such as vegetation indices, DEM, thematic layers and meteorological information) was applied. Post Classification Analysis (PCA) as well as Post Change Detection (PCD) techniques were used. Hotspot analysis was conducted to detect the areas affected by deforestation. Furthermore, Ordinary Least Squares regression (OLS), Autocorrelation (Moran's) analysis, and Geographically Weighted Regression analyses (GWR) were applied to address the interaction of the different socioeconomic/ecological factors on Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) collection and to simulate the dependency scenarios of NTFPs along with their impact on poverty alleviation. Additionally, simulation was performed to estimate the future forest density and predict the dependency on forest services. An increasing impact of intensive interactions between the rural and urban areas has long been acknowledged. However, recent changes in the global political economy and environmental systems, as well as local dynamics of the study area driven by war, drought and deforestation, have led to an increasing rapidity and depth in rural transformation, as well as to a significant impact on urban areas. Like most environmental problems, the effects of these drivers are complex and are stressed diversely across different geographic regions by the socio-political processes that underlie recent economic and cultural globalization. These interactions and processes have increasingly brought rapid changes in land cover, social, institutional and livelihood transformation across broad areas of South Kordofan. Moreover, the study unveils new dynamics such as high rates of migration and mobility by the indigenous population and the increasing domination of market-centric livelihoods in many villages that were once dominated by rural agricultural and natural resourcesbased socio-economic systems. Furthermore, the research highlights the significant roles of NTFPs and trees in contributing to Nuba Mountains’ economic development, food security and environmental health, indicating which requirements need to be addressed in order to improve these potentials. The study proves that drawing on a wide range of these products for livelihood strengthens rural people’s ability to deal with and adapt to both EC and extreme events. Moreover, the results underline the importance of participatory approaches of rural women and their impact on NTFPs management with recommendations of more emphasis on potential roles and the ability of women to participate in public fora. Furthermore, the study shows that the use of high-resolution satellite imagery, integrated with model-based terrestrial information, provides a precise knowledge about the magnitude and distribution of LU/LC patterns. These methods can make an important contribution towards a better understanding of EC dynamics over time. The study reveals that more information exchange is needed to inform actors and decision makers regarding specific experiences, capacity gaps and knowledge to address EC. Subsequently, new policies and strategies are required to much more specifically focus on how to deal with consequences of longer-term EC rather than with the impacts of sudden natural disasters.