Reconstruction of Historical Landscapes: An Alternative Approach to Monitor Land Cover Change

Land cover change and trends is the barometer that analysis the Earth’s wellness. It is an important measurement that ensue the protection of life on Earth and its continued existence. Up until now, the modern method of remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) has been used to determine these. But the problem is that its use for the investigation of land cover change (LCC) and trends cannot go beyond 7 decades, the length of time it has being in existence. But, LCC and Trends caused by population increase or climatic changes could be a slow process taking years to manifest itself. The quest was an agent need to find a method that could successfully analyse LCC and trends and still not be limited by time. The new reconstruction of historical landscape is such a novel method. This paper is an account on the research which supported the hypothesis that the reconstruction of historical knowledge is a viable new, novel method that could be used with minor adjustments as an alternative to fill the gap where the modern method is unavailable or inadequate. The paper reports on the novel method’s “Blue Print” and it is scrutinised to qualify as the second method for the investigation of LCC and Trends after the tried and tested modern method of remote sensing and GIS. The blue print schedule was used for the test data and the modern method provided for the control data. Although the method of reconstruction of historical landscape was found to be involving and such a mammoth task; it is novel, very much intriguing. It incorporates science and the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Its use calls for the awareness, assimilation and synthesis of data from multidimensional; multisector; socio-economic, political and cultural; and the time period dynamics. It is indeed a welcome far reaching innovation for the field of geospatial science.