Urban Green Spaces in Bamako and Sikasso, Mali: Land Use Changes and Perceptions

Increasing land use and land cover change and climate change have considerable impacts on urban green spaces and their ecosystem services. These impacts result in a loss of urban green space and particularly weaken the climate resilience of urban populations. Landsat imagery data from 1990 to 2020 were used to track the spatio-temporal dynamics of urban sprawl and its influence on the loss of urban green space in Bamako and Sikasso in Mali. Furthermore, a survey of local stakeholders was conducted to capture the perceptions of the status of urban green space. The results of the land use/land cover analysis of the cities between 1990 and 2020 showed that most of the vegetation classes, mainly urban green spaces, have been converted into built-up and bare land in both cities during the last 30 years. In Bamako, built-up land has risen from 5421 hectares in 1990 to 13,350 hectares in 2020, and in Sikasso, from 929 hectares in 1990 to 2213 hectares in 2020. Respondents mentioned street trees as the prevalent type of urban green spaces in both cities (20% of the respondents in Bamako and 24% in Sikasso). In addition, the majority of respondents perceived urban green spaces in Sikasso as having a good status and in Bamako as having a good or moderate status. This study recommends improving the number and quality of urban green spaces, which are crucial for the provision of ecosystem services and for the resilience of cities against climate change.