scholarly journals Land Use/Land Cover Changes in the Tlemcen Region (Algeria) and Classification of Fragile Areas

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7761
Author(s):  
Abdelkader Bardadi ◽  
Zahira Souidi ◽  
Marianne Cohen ◽  
Mohamed Amara

The Tlemcen region is characterized by very diverse and steep areas exposed to gravity hazards, especially in high and medium mountain areas. Tlemcen National Park was chosen for this study, the main objective of which is to map fragile areas in close relation to reduced vegetation cover due to land-use changes and forest fires. Multi-source data were used to monitor land use/land cover (LULC)patterns in the study area between 1987 and 2017. The methodology is based on an object-oriented classification of the Landsat images, using the K nearest neighbor method for mapping the major LULC classes at the national park level. The results show that LULC is constantly changing in the study area. In 1987, the landscape was made up of (16.5%) oak forests (holm oak, cork oak, zean oak) and Aleppo pine, which then deteriorated following repeated fires in the nineties to barely represent 7.22% of the surface in 1995, followed by a fast forest reclamation, with the forest area doubling in 10 years (13.46% of the area in 2005), and a near stabilization of the forest cover in 2017 with 14.68% of the area. These mutations are mainly due to fluctuations in anthropogenic action. Despite past declines and disturbances, the current forested area in the Tlemcen area represents significant forest capital classified as a national park to be protected and developed.

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Pandey ◽  
B P Heyojoo ◽  
H Shahi

Land use and land cover change has immense impact on the global environment and ecosystem. Geospatial technologies are very important for monitoring these changes. This research aims to find out the land use land cover dynamics and drivers of Ambung VDC, Tehrathum district. The Landsat images of the year 1990 and 2013 were used for quantifying the changes. Household survey, key informant interview, focus group discussion, training samples collection and direct field observations were carried out to gather socio-economic and bio-physical data. Supervised classification was performed to prepare land cover maps. Change on land use was calculated by using post classification change detection. During 1990–2013, forest cover was found to have increased by 6.6%, agriculture decreased by 5.9% and others (barren, settlement, grass, rock and water bodies) decreased by 0.7%. The VDC was found to have severe problem of rapid drying of water resources in spite of the increase in forest cover, and so research should be carried out to find out the reason and solve the problem before it is too late.Banko JanakariA Journal of Forestry Information for NepalVol. 26, No. 1, Page:90-96, 2016


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 320-328
Author(s):  
Suraj Prasad Bist ◽  
Rabindra Adhikari ◽  
Raju Raj Regmi ◽  
Rajan Subedi

The present study was conducted in the Mohana watershed of Far-western Nepal to assess land use land cover change. The study has used ArcGIS and three Landsat images - Landsat TM (1999), Landsat ETM+ (2009), and Landsat OLI (2019) – to analyze land use the land cover change of the watershed. The change matrix technique was used for change detection analysis. The study area was classified into five classes; forest, agriculture, built-up, water bodies, and barren lands. The study has found that among the five identified classes forest and build-up increased positively from 45.40 % to 51.51 % - forest cover and 11.26 % to 19. 85 % - build-up respectively. Similarly, agricultural land and water bodies initially increased but after 2009 both land cover areas decreased to 23.79 % and 0.73 % from 31.38 % and 0.97 % in 2009 respectively. Barren land decreased from 15.37% to 4.12% over the last 20 years. This study might support land-use planners and policymakers to adopt the best suitable land use management option for the Mohana watershed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4350
Author(s):  
Sarah Hasan ◽  
Wenzhong Shi ◽  
Xiaolin Zhu ◽  
Sawaid Abbas ◽  
Hafiz Usman Ahmed Khan

Landscape transformations in rapidly urbanizing Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao (GHKM) regions of South China represent the most complex and dynamic processes altering the local ecology and environment. In this study, Land Change Modeler (LCM) is applied to land use land cover (LULC) maps for the years 2005, 2010, and 2017, derived from Landsat images, with the aim of understanding land use land cover change patterns during 2005–2017 and, further, to predict the future scenario of the years 2024 and 2031. Furthermore, the changes in spatial structural patterns are quantified and analyzed using selected landscape morphological metrics. The results show that the urban area has increased at an annual rate of 4.72% during 2005–2017 and will continue to rise from 10.31% (20,228.95 km2) in 2017 to 16.30% (31,994.55 km2) in 2031. This increase in urban area will encroach further into farmland and fishponds. However, forest cover will continue to increase from 45.02% (88,391.98 km2) in 2017 to 46.88% (92,049.62 km2) in 2031. This implies a decrease in the mean Euclidian nearest neighbor distance (ENN_MN) of forest patches (from 217.57 m to 206.46 m) and urban clusters (from 285.55 m to 245.06 m) during 2017–2031, indicating an accelerated landscape transformation if the current patterns of the change continues over the next decade. Thus, knowledge of the current and predicted LULC changes will help policy and decision makers to reconsider and develop new policies for the sustainable development and protection of natural resources.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 87-99
Author(s):  
Maria del Rosario Pineda-López ◽  
Ernesto Ruelas Inzunza ◽  
Lázaro Rafael Sánchez-Velásquez ◽  
Marco A. Espinoza Guzmán ◽  
Alberto Rojo Alboreca ◽  
...  

To understand the dynamics of land cover at the Parque Nacional Cofre de Perote, the rates of change in land use were compared at two different scales during the period 1995-2004. At the meso scale, these patterns were studied throughout the entire Parque Nacional Cofre de Perote, which is one of the 60 priority mountains of Mexico, and an important natural protected area of the country located in the state of Veracruz. At a micro scale, the work was focused in ejido El Conejo, located within the boundaries of this national park. Federal government digital orthophotos were used to determine changes in nine categories of land use. In both, the meso- and micro-scale, it was found that the predominant land cover categories are agriculture and forest. The probabilities of land cover change at both scales are low and essentially the same for most land use categories, reflecting both small gains in forest cover park-wide as well as the effectiveness of the ejido in managing natural resources within the park. The authors consider that the findings of the study may be applicable to the broader situation of national parks in Mexico and, finally, the importance of integrating local stakeholders in the management of natural protected areas is discussed.


Author(s):  
Negasi Solomon ◽  
Alcade C. Segnon ◽  
Emiru Birhane

Despite their importance as sources of ecosystem services supporting the livelihoods of millions of people, forest ecosystems have been changing into other land use systems over the past decades across the world. While forest cover change dynamics have been widely documented in various ecological systems, how these changes affect ecosystem service values has received limited attention. In this study we assessed the impact of land-use/land-cover dynamics on ecosystem service values in dry Afromontane forest in Northern Ethiopia. We estimated ecosystem service values and their changes based on the benefit transfer method using land cover data of the years 1985, 2000, and 2016 with their corresponding locally valid value coefficients and from the Ecosystem service valuation database. The total ecosystem service values of the whole study area were about USD 16.6, 19.0, and 18.1 million in 1985, 2000, and 2016, respectively. The analyses indicated an increase in ecosystem service values from 1985 to 2000 and a decrease in ecosystem service values from 2000 to 2016. Similarly, the contribution of specific ecosystem services increased in the first study period and decreased in the second study period. The findings highlight how forest cover dynamics can be translated into changes in ecosystem service values in dry Afromontane forest ecosystems in Northern Ethiopia and showed how specific ecosystem services contributed to the observed trends. The findings also illustrated the temporal heterogeneity in the impacts of land-use/land-cover dynamics on values of ecosystem services. The findings can serve as crucial inputs for policy and strategy formulations for the sustainable use and management of forest resources and can also guide the allocation of limited resources among competing demands to safeguard the ecosystems that offer the best-valued services.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. V. Ramachandra ◽  
Bharath Setturu

The ecosystem of health and natural resource management is influenced by the social, political, economic system and institutional framework in a region. Rapid economic growth in Bangalore and its environs in recent decades has resulted in environmental changes in Bannerghatta National Park (BNP) and its buffer (of 5 km). Land use land cover (LULC) change analysis with a modelling technique such as cellular automata (CA)-Markov was used for quantitatively exploring forest cover transitions. The analysis of LULC dynamics has revealed loss of vegetation cover from 85.78 per cent to 66.37 per cent (1973–2015) and severe environmental stress. The region has lost moist deciduous cover, from 26.1 per cent to 13.8 per cent, and witnessed an increase in horticulture, from 8.5 per cent to 11 per cent (1973–2015). The visualization of likely land use in 2027 indicates the loss of forest cover from 41.38 per cent to 35.59 per cent with an increase in urban area from 4.49 per cent to 9.62 per cent (with new residential and commercial layouts in the buffer zone of BNP in violation of the eco-sensitive zone norms as per Section 5(1) of Environment Protection Act 1986). The study provides insights for developing an appropriate planning framework towards conservation and the sustainable management of ecologically sensitive national parks.


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