The Luilu sector, located in the Katangan Copperbelt (southeastern DR Congo), has expe-rienced intensified extractive activities over several decades. While this dynamic contrib-utes to national economic growth, it generates environmental and social impacts that re-main insufficiently documented, particularly regarding landscape structure and resili-ence. This study examines changes in land cover and spatial organization between 1990 and 2024 under increasing anthropogenic pressures. The methodology combines a mul-ti-temporal cartographic approach with landscape ecology indices (composition, frag-mentation, connectivity, spatial complexity) applied to satellite imagery. The analysis re-veals a significant decline in natural formations, notably Miombo woodlands (from 50.83% to 38.89%), correlated with the rapid expansion of agricultural (from 4.25% to 13.41%) and urban areas (from 0.64% to 5.05%), primarily driven by shifting cultivation and urbanization. Ecological indices indicate growing instability, increased fragmenta-tion, and reduced ecosystem resilience. The largest patch index shows a reduction in for-est dominance (29.62% to 24.34%), while fractal analysis highlights rapid, disorganized, and spatially complex urban expansion. These dynamics reflect a rapid, unplanned landscape reconfiguration, undermining ecological connectivity and reinforcing regional socio-environmental vulnerability. The study underscores the need to integrate landscape dynamics into local land management policies in order to balance mining development, food security, and ecosystem conservation.
Bwandamuka et al. (Tue,) studied this question.