Journal of Land Use Science (Dec 2024)

Drivers of urbanization effects in five countries of the MENA region – a review

  • Abed Al Kareem Yehya,
  • Thanh Thi Nguyen,
  • Martin Wiehle,
  • Andreas Buerkert

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/1747423X.2024.2415147
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 1
pp. 304 – 320

Abstract

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Urbanization, a global process entailing profound socio-economic changes, transforms land cover. This review analyzes the social-ecological drivers and outcomes of land cover change (LCC) in five politically unstable regions: Greater Cairo, Tunisia, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank. Using data from 30 papers, we explored socio-political contexts and measured the social-ecological outcomes related to LCC. Remote sensing studies from 2011 to 2021 indicated predominantly negative social-ecological outcomes of urban expansion (p = 0.03), whereas, some studies indicated also positive outcomes of urban growth (p = 0.001). All studies highlighted the complex, location-specific interplay of LCC drivers. The lack of sufficient and consistent data to quantitatively assess the interlinkages between social-ecological outcomes and LCC drivers remains a challenge to better understand urbanization effects on ecosystem services.

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