Assessing land-use and land cover change in peri-urban wetland in Tembisa, South Africa

• Kaalspruit wetland is affected by anthropogenic activities. • Anthropogenic activities in Kaalspruit wetland have reduced the spatial extent of wetland. • Built-up areas and bare land increased by 255.37 ha and 22.32 ha. • Cultivated land, vegetation, and water bodies decreased by 111.33 ha, 144.42 ha, and 20.78 ha, respectively. • Anthropogenic activities have led to loss of ecosystem service values provided by wetlands. Wetlands provide diverse ecosystem services but are increasingly degraded due to anthropogenic activities. Poor management has made wetlands to undergone significant change because of various anthropogenic activities. This study aimed at investigating the impacts of land use land cover changes (LULCC) over 32 years (1990–2022) in the condition and status of a peri-urban wetland in Tembisa, Gauteng province in South Africa. To achieve the aim of the study, various Landsat TM 4–5, SPOT 5 and 6, and Sentinel 2A were processed in ArcGIS Pro to assess, map and monitor the extent of LULCC in Kaalspruit wetland. A multi-source satellite image analysis was performed using a Maximum Likelihood classification algorithm in supervised classification to provide a quantitative assessment and a detailed overview of the rate of change. The result showed that built-up areas and bare land increased by 255.37 ha and 22.32 ha, respectively, while cultivated land, vegetation, and water bodies decreased by 111.33 ha, 144.42ha, and 20.78 ha, respectively. Such changes show significant human interventions such as expansion of infrastructural development, pollution and cultivation because of increased population pressure. Interventions should be made for the rehabilitation and sustainable management of wetlands in the peri-urban areas of Tembisa.