Mwekera Forest Reserve, located in Zambia's Copperbelt Province, has long been a critical ecological zone — providing watershed protection, biodiversity habitat, and carbon sequestration services for surrounding communities. Yet over the past two decades, the reserve has faced mounting pressure from encroachment, charcoal production, and land conversion.
Using multi-temporal Landsat satellite imagery spanning over 20 years, Geo Aerial Consulting conducted a comprehensive change detection analysis of Mwekera's land cover. By applying supervised classification algorithms and post-classification comparison techniques in ArcGIS Pro, we were able to map the spatial and temporal dynamics of forest loss across the reserve boundary.
Key findings from the analysis include significant reduction in dense forest cover, an increase in degraded woodland and open land, identifiable hotspots of encroachment along the reserve's southern and eastern edges, and acceleration of land use change in the most recent decade compared to earlier periods.
The results were compiled into an interactive ArcGIS StoryMap, making the data accessible not only to technical audiences but to policymakers, conservation advocates, and local communities. The StoryMap is publicly available and has been shared with environmental stakeholders across the region.
This project demonstrates the power of freely available satellite data, when combined with rigorous spatial analysis, to produce actionable environmental intelligence. At Geo Aerial, we believe that making this kind of analysis accessible — not locked behind technical jargon — is essential to driving meaningful conservation outcomes.
