The Egyptian government and the private sector in Aswan are interested in developing Aswan governorate, which represents a large future sustainable zone for different types of land use including agricultural, urbanization, wastewater disposal, landfill and industrial sites. The governorate area is about 62726 km². However, the inhabited area does not exceed 2%. The current study focus on the analysis of the land use changes in the area since 1986 till 2003, by using modern techniques, which include RS data and GIS programs.
The results showed that there were obvious changes in land use in the study area of 46382.25 km², since 1986 till 2003 where it was found a lack of arable land as much as 445.25 km² (0.96% of the study area) and a shortage of the desert lands as far as 1752.86 km² (3.78%). On the other hand, the urbanized area increased by 2571.39 km² (5.54%). These lands were utilized for building and other activities.
The results also showed that although the reclaimed area increased but the old agricultural land changed to other uses such as building construction and other activities. This was clarified by producing maps showing the changes in land use.