Spatial relationships between farmlands and hydrographies in agrarian landscapes

ABSTRACT Context and background Climate induced disasters, human involvement, and changes in natural cycles have all had a profound, complex, and difficult-to-understand impact on rural landscapes, especially agrarian landscapes. Most of these negative impacts are been felt on farmlands and hydrographies. The term “spatial relationships” refers to the way objects are arranged in relation to one another in geographic space. For example, we can describe them as adjacency, contiguity, overlap, and proximity. The spatial arrangement of natural landscapes, human settlements, and infrastructure plays a critical role in influencing: the occurrence and intensity of climate-induced disasters; the exposure and vulnerability of populations; and the effectiveness of mitigation and adaptation strategies. Objective and research questions: While farmlands and hydrographies try to survive and resist to the negative impacts of climate induced disasters, no research has ever tried to find out the type of spatial relationships which exist between farmlands and hydrographies in a landscape. Our research is centered around the question: what type of spatial relationships exist between farmlands and hydrographies in agrarian landscapes? The absence of data on the spatial relationships which exist between farmlands and hydrographies is a gap which this study wants to fill in order to address the problem of farmlands exposure and vulnerabilities to climate change. Methodology: Understanding the spatial relationships which exist between farmlands and hydrograpies in space can help to strengthen climate mitigation strategies and reduce the exposure level of the farmlands. In this paper, we provided analysis on the type of spatial relationships which exist between the farmlands and hydrographies found in the villages of Ngalat and Mbockoulu in the district of Mbamayo. Then we also provided some analysis on the existing literature on the use of map object relations. Results: The results of our work identified four different types of spatial relationships which exist between farmlands and hydrographies. These four types of spatial relationships are Topological Relationships, Directional Relationships, Distance-Based Relationships, and Geometric Relationships. Keywords: Spatial relationship, farmland, hydrography, landmark, agrarian, landscapes, agriculture, geographical feature.