ИСТИНА

Study area: Victoria Lake and 3 countries: Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Lake Victoria is the 2nd largest fresh water body on the Earth. It has unique environment and gives origin to Nile. Focus: natural landscapes. Sustainable development: prerequisite for successful environmental monitoring in the Victoria Lake. Economic development model: 1) resource-saving technologies; 2) planting and protecting forests areas; 3) environmental policy and conservation. Research focuses on the investigation of the environmental, biological, social and economic characteristics of the region. Aim: regional monitoring and sustainable management. Research objective: create a geodatabase (.mbd) and mapping in ArcGIS 9.3 for sustainable development and environmental monitoring. GIS project for spatial analysis: integration of raster & vector data, metadata, descriptions of layers (land cover map legend). Data organizing & management: ArcGIS 9.3. Operations & technique: ArcGIS Spatial Analyst. Project architecture: ArcCatalog. Spatial referencing & re-projection: ArcToolbox. Results: Areas of cropland needed in 2030: Kenya – 248,778 km2; Tanzania – 991,469 km2; Uganda - 153,992 km2. Percentage converted to cropland in 2030 (from the total forest area): Kenya – 370%; Tanzania – 148%; Uganda - 618%. Amount of forests can be converted to cropland from the protected zones: Inside protected areas: Kenya – 9km2; Tanzania –1025 km2; Uganda - 15km2; Outside protected areas: Kenya – 795km2; Tanzania – 6484km2.