Thamaga, Kgabo HumphreyDube, TimothyShoko, Cletah2022-09-122022-09-122022Thamaga, K. H. et al. (2022). Evaluating the impact of land use and land cover change on unprotected wetland ecosystems in the arid-tropical areas of South Africa using the Landsat dataset and support vector machine. Geocarto International. https://doi.org/10.1080/10106049.2022.20349861752-0762https://doi.org/10.1080/10106049.2022.2034986http://hdl.handle.net/10566/7861The study explored the impact of Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) change dynamics in relation to the condition and status of an unprotected wetland located in the arid-tropical parts of the Limpopo Province, South Africa. The long-term Landsat archival data series was used to map and quantify the impacts of LULC change on the wetland over a period of 36 years (1983–2019). A multi-source satellite image analysis was performed, using the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm and advanced spatially- explicit geographic information system tools. Landsat data series covering the entire study area was used to assess, map and monitor LULC change that occurred over-time. Post-classification maps for the Maungani wetland area were analysed to provide a quantitative assessment and a detailed overview of the rate of change. The generated wetland detection maps for four temporal phases (i.e., 1983–1992, 1992–2001, 2002–2010) were analysed.enRural developmentVector machineWetland degradationWater pollutionSouth AfricaArticle