Historical Perspectives of Land Use and Land Cover Change in the Sanga-Lake Mburo former Pastoral Rangeland Ecosystem, Uganda

Socioeconomic, political, and policy decisions by the government may influence socioecological changes of land use cover pattern for rangeland people over time. This paper examines historical policy, socioeconomic that influenced in former pastoral community Sanga-Lake Mburo Rangeland Ecosystem South Western Uganda. Data on events were documented from literature supplemented an opportunistic discussion with Sanga residents. change detection between 1987 2020 provided Landsat 5 TM 8 OLI/TIRS images field observations. Images processed using QGIS version 3.20.1 employing a semi-automatic classification plugin. Political policies related to tenure reforms, socioeconomics, demographic noted as underlying drivers changes. The overall accuracies classified maps 80.36% 89.81%, respectively. Notably, woodland protected area increased 170.53% 2020, while built-up areas farmland 1348.15% 405.03%, In same period, wetland unprotected decreased immensely 46.06%. Bareland park 23%, outside park, it 25.07%. study concludes resulted sociocultural changes, political ranches, management, restructuring.