Comprehending drivers of land use land cover change from 1999 to 2021 in the Pithoragarh District,Kumaon Himalaya,Uttarakhand,India

The Himalayan region has been experiencing stark impacts of climate change,demographic and livelihood pattern changes.The analysis of land use and land cover(LULC)change provides insights into the shifts in spatial and temporal patterns of landscape.These changes are the combined effects of anthropogenic and natural/climatic factors.The present study attempts to monitor and comprehend the main drivers behind LULC changes(1999-2021)in the Himalayan region of Pithoragarh district,Uttarakhand.Pithoragarh district is a border district,remotely located in the north-east region of Uttarakhand,India.The study draws upon primary and secondary data sources.A total of 400 household surveys and five group discussions from 38 villages were conducted randomly to understand the climate perception of the local community and the drivers of change.Satellite imagery,CRU(Climatic Research Unit)climate data and climate perception data from the field have been used to comprehensively comprehend,analyze,and discuss the trends and reasons for LULC change.GIS and remote sensing techniques were used to construct LULC maps.This multifaceted approach ensures comprehensive and corroborated information.Five classes were identified and formed viz-cultivation,barren,settlement,snow,and vegetation.Results show that vegetation and builtup have increased whereas cultivation,barren land,and snow cover have decreased.The study further aims to elucidate the causes behind LULC changes in the spatially heterogeneous region,distinguishing between those attributed to human activities,climate shifts,and the interconnected impacts of both.The study provides a comprehensive picture of the study area and delivers a targeted understanding of local drivers and their potential remedies by offering a foundation for formulating sustainable adaptation policies in the region.

Migration and Spatiotemporal Land Cover Change: A Case of Bosomtwe Lake Basin, Ghana

Internal migration is highly valued due to its increasingly acknowledged potential for social and economic development. However, despite its significant contribution to the development of towns and cities, it has led to the deterioration of many ecosystems globally. Lake Bosomtwe, a natural Lake in Ghana and one of the six major meteoritic lakes in the world is affected by land cover changes caused by the rising effects of migration, population expansion, and urbanization, owing to the development of tourist facilities on the lakeshore. This study investigated land cover change trajectories using a post-classification comparison approach and identified the factors influencing alteration in the Lake Bosomtwe Basin. Using Landsat imagery, an integrated approach of remote sensing, geographical information systems (GIS), and statistical analysis was successfully employed to analyze the land cover change of the basin. The findings show that over the 17 years, the basin’s forest cover decreased significantly by 16.02%, indicating that population expansion significantly affects changes in land cover. Ultimately, this study will raise the awareness of stakeholders, decision-makers, policy-makers, government, and non-governmental agencies to evaluate land use development patterns, optimize land use structures, and provide a reference for the formulation of sustainable development policies to promote the sustainable development of the ecological environment.

Land cover change along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway and Railway from 1981 to 2001

Based on the NOAA AVHRR-NDVI monthly data from 1981 to 2001, the spatial distribution and dynamic change of land cover along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway and Railway were studied. The results of the analytical data indicate that the NDVI values in July, August and September are rather high during a year, and a linear trend by calculating NDVI of each pixel computed based on the average values of NDVI in July, August and September were obtained. The results are as follows： 1） Land cover of the study area by NDVI displays high at two sides of the area and low in the center, and agriculture area 〉 alpine meadow 〉 alpine grassland 〉 desert grassland. 2） In the study area, the amount ofpixels with high increase, slight increase, no change, slight decrease and high decrease account for 0.29%, 14.86%, 67.61%, 16.7% and 0.57% of the whole area, respectively. The increase of land cover pixels is mainly in the agriculture and alpine meadow and the decrease pixels mainly in the alpine grassland, desert grassland and hungriness. Grassland and hungriness contribute to the decrease mostly and artificial land and meadow contribute to the increase mostly. 3） In the area where human beings live, the changing trend is obvious, such as the valleys of Lhasa River and Huangshui River and area along the Yellow River; in the high altitude area with fewer people living, the changing trend is relatively low, like the area of Hoh Xil. 4） Human being＇s behaviors are a key factor followed by the climate changes affecting land cover.

The Relative Impact of Regional Scale Land Cover Change and Increasing CO_2 over China

A series of 17-yr equilibrium simulations using the NCAR COM3 (T42resolution) were performed to investigate the regional scale impacts of land cover change andincreasing CO_2 over China. Simulations with natural and current land cover at CO_2 levels of 280,355, 430, and 505 ppmv were conducted. Results show statistically significant changes in majorclimate fields (e.g. temperature and surface wind speed) on a 15-yr average following land coverchange. We also found increases in the maximum temperature and in the diurnal temperature range dueto land cover change. Increases in CO_2 affect both the maximum and minimum temperature so thatchanges in the diurnal range are small. Both land cover change and CO_2 change also impact thefrequency distribution of precipitation with increasing CO_2 tending to lead to more intenseprecipitation and land cover change leading to less intense precipitation―indeed, the impact ofland cover change typically had the opposite effect versus the impacts of CO_2. Our results providesupport for the inclusion of future land cover change scenarios in long-term transitory climatemodelling experiments of the 21st Century. Our results also support the inclusion of land surfacemodels that can represent future land cover changes resulting from an ecological response to naturalclimate variability or increasing CO_2. Overall, we show that land cover change can have asignificant impact on the regional scale climate of China, and that regionally, this impact is of asimilar magnitude to increases in CO_2 of up to about 430 ppmv. This means that that the impact ofland cover change must be accounted for in detection and attribution studies over China.

Recent Progress in Studies on Land Cover Change and Its Regional Climatic Effects over China during Historical Times

The recent progresses on the reconstruction of historical land cover and the studies on regional climatic effects to temperature, precipitation, and the East Asian Monsoon across China were reviewed. Findings show that the land cover in China has been significantly modified by human activities over the last several thousands years, mainly through cropland expansion and forest clearance. The cropland over traditional Chinese agricultural areas increased from 5.32×10^5 km^2 in the mid-17th century to 8.27×10^5 km^2 in the mid-20th century, while the forest area over the Chinese mainland had been reduced by 1.66×10^6 km^2 during the last 300 years. These changes of land cover have been detected as an important driving force of climate change by simulations of climatic effects based on various climate models （including RegCM3, RegCM2-NCC, RIEMS version1, MM5 version 2, and AGCM＋SSiB） with reconstructed historical land cover data or by contrasting current land cover to potential natural vegetation. The human-induced land cover changes over China have led to the enhancement of the East Asian winter monsoon, as well as cooling in winter and warming in summer approximately since 1700. However, the simulation results on annual mean temperature, precipitation, and the East Asian summer monsoon varied from model to model, which cannot be simply attributed to certain forcing so far, but undoubtedly, using different land cover datasets in various simulations played a key role. Thus, developing different regional scales with high time resolution more accurate gridded historical land cover datasets on is needed in the future.

The role of landscape pattern analysis in understanding concepts of land cover change

Landscape ecology and landscape pattern analysis are important components of national-scale programs to identify trends in land cover change because: 1) Statistics on changes in land cover proportions are not spatial. A change matrix derived from GIS provides useful information, but it does not show the spatial form of change in the landscape. Landscape pattern metrics reveal spatial pattern. 2) A growing body of literature has shown that a change in landscape pattern might indicate important changes in ecological functions: forest connectivity and species movements, number and size of farm patches, effects on water quality. Spatial pattern is important in structuring ecological communities and in maintaining existence of competitors. Spatial pattern may be determined by disturbance and may in turn, determine how disturbances propagate through the system. 3) Sometimes landscape pattern may not significantly change, even though land cover proportions do change. Or, vice-versa, sometimes landscape pattern can significantly change, even though land cover proportions don't significantly change. 4) Landscape pattern is an inherent and important part of describing landscapes: based on the literature, one of the most important descriptive characteristics of a landscape is its texture. The objectives of this paper are to: 1) Explain the importance of the role of landscape ecology and landscape pattern analysis in land cover change studies; 2) Review the literature that specifically incorporates landscape ecology into land cover change studies; and 3) List the theoretical and technical issues involved and suggest solutions for them.

Land use and land cover change within the Koshi River Basin of the central Himalayas since 1990

Land change is a cause and consequence of global environmental change.Land use and land cover have changed considerably due to increasing human activities and climate change,which has become the core issue of major international research projects.This study interprets land use and land cover status and the changes within the Koshi River Basin(KRB)using Landsat remote sensing(RS)image data,and employs logistic regression model to analyze the influence of natural and socioeconomic driving forces on major land cover changes.The results showed that the areas of built-up land,bare land and forest in KRB increased from 1990 to 2015,including the largest increases in forest and the highest growth rate in construction land.Areas of glacier,grassland,sparse vegetation,shrub land,cropland,and wetland all decreased over the study period.From the perspective of driving analysis,the role of human activities in land use and land cover change is significant than climate factors.Cropland expansion is the reclamation of cropland by farmers,mainly from early deforestation.However,labor force separation,geological disasters and drought are the main factors of cropland shrinkage.The increase of forest area in India and Nepal was attributed to the government’s forest protection policies,such as Nepal’s community forestry has achieved remarkable results.The expansion and contraction of grassland were both dominated by climatic factors.The probability of grassland expansion increases with temperature and precipitation,while the probability of grassland contraction decreases with temperature and precipitation.

Hydrological response to land use and land cover changes in a sub-watershed of West Liaohe River Basin,China

In recent years, the streamflow of the Laohahe Basin in China showed a dramatic decrease during the rainy season as a result of climate change and/or human activities. The objective of this work was to document significant streamflow changes caused by land use and land cover （LULC） changes and to quantify the impacts of the observed changes in Laohahe Basin. in the study area, the observed streamflow has been influenced by LULC changes, dams, and irrigation from rivers, industry, livestock and human consumption. Most importantly, the growth of population and gross domestic product （GDP） accompanied by the growth in industrial and agricultural activities, which led to LULC changes with increased residential land and cropland and decreased grassland since 2000s. Statistical methods and Variable Infiltration Capacity （VIC） hydrological model were used to estimate the effects of climate change and LULC changes on streamflow and evaportranspiration lET）. First, the streamflow data of the study area were divided into three sub-periods according to the Pettitt test. The hydrological process was then simulated by VIC model from 1964 to 2009. Furthermore, we compared the simulated results based on land use scenarios in 1989, 1999 and 2007, respectively for exploring the effect of LULC changes on the spatio-temporal distribution of streamflow and ET in the Laohahe Basin. The results suggest that, accompanied with climate change, the LULC changes and human water consumption appeared to be the most likely factors contributing to the sig- nificant reduction in streamflow in the Laohahe Basin by 64% from1999 to 2009.

Impact of land cover change on land surface temperature: A case study of Spiti Valley

Land surface temperature(LST) is the skin temperature of the earth surface. LST depends on the amount of sunlight received by any geographical area. Apart from sun light, LST is also affected by the land cover, which leads to change in land surface temperature. Impact of land cover change(LCC) on LST has been assessed using Landsat TM5, Landsat 8 TIRS/OLI and Digital Elevation Model(ASTER) for Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India. In the present study, Spiti valley was divided into three altitudinal zones to check the pattern of changing land cover along different altitudes and LST was calculated for all the four land cover categories extracted from remote sensing data for the years of 1990 and 2015. Matrix table was used as a technique to evaluate the land cover change between two different years. Matrix table shows that as a whole, about 2,151,647 ha(30%) area of Spiti valley experienced change in land cover in the last 25 years. The result also shows vegetation and water bodies increased by 107,560.2 ha(605.87%) and 45 ha(0.98%), respectively. Snow cover and barren land decreased by 19,016.5 ha(23.92%) and 88,589(14.14%), during the study period. A significant increase has been noticed in vegetation amongst all land cover types. Minimum, maximum and mean LST for three altitudinal zones have been calculated. The mean LST recorded was 11℃ in 1990 but it rose by 2℃ and reached to 13℃ in 2015. Changes in LST were obtained for each land cover categories. The mean temperature of different land cover types was calculated by averaging value of all pixels of a given land cover types. The mean LST of vegetation, barren land, snow cover and water body increased by 6℃, 9℃, 1℃, and 7℃, respectively. Further, relationships between LST, Normalized Difference Snow Index(NDSI), and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI) were established using Linear Regression.

Land Cover Changes and Drivers in the Water Source Area of the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China from 2000 to 2015

The Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project(MR-SNWDP)in China,with construction beginning in 2003,diverts water from Danjiangkou Reservoir to North China for residential,agriculture and industrial use.The water source area of the MR-SNWDP is the region that is most sensitive to and most affected by the construction of this water diversion project.In this study,we used Landsat Thematic Mapper(TM)and HJ-1 A/B images from 2000 to 2015 by an object-based approach with a hierarchical classification method for mapping land cover in the water source area.The changes in land cover were illuminated by transfer matrixes,single dynamic degree,slope zones and fractional vegetation cover(FVC).The results indicated that the area of cropland decreased by 31%and was replaced mainly by shrub over the past 15 years,whereas forest and settlements showed continuous increases of 29.2% and 77.7%,respectively.The changes in cropland were obvious in all slope zones and decreased most remarkably(–43.8%)in the slope zone above 25°.Compared to the FVC of forest and shrub,significant improvement was exhibited in the FVC of grassland,with a growth rate of 16.6%.We concluded that local policies,including economic development,water conservation and immigration resulting from the construction of the MR-SNWDP,were the main drivers of land cover changes;notably,they stimulated the substantial and rapid expansion of settlements,doubled the wetlands and drove the transformation from cropland to settlements in immigration areas.

LAND USE AND LAND COVER CHANGE IN CHINA

This paper deals with land use and land cover change in China in the last 500 years. It aims at sensitizing related fields in giving due consideration on integration of environmental change and social economic development process and at proposing a framework for discussion towards further study. Based on historical review,several important changes were summarized as: natural vegetation were replaced by secondary or cultivated Plants, land cover changes differ from time to time and from place to place:and cropping pattern change is a sensitive indicator of land cover change in China. In the history of Cnina, many factors contributed to land use and land cover change either in positive or negative Ways. Four major driving forces were concluded, namely, climatic change, social transformation and turbulence, technology improvement, and international trade competition. In the last Part of tne Paper, a proposal on 'land use/land cover cnange' is framed, so as to calling comments on improving tne study and collaborations from varied authorities and researcn institutions.

Land use and land cover change processes in China's eastern Loess Plateau

Using Landsat remote sensing images, we analyzed changes in each land use type and transitions among different land use types during land use and land cover change （LUCC） in Ningwu County, located in the eastern Loess Plateau of China, from 1990 to 2010. We found that grassland, woodland, and farmland were the main land use types in the study area, and the area of each type changed slightly from 1990 to 2010, whereas the area of water, construction land, and unused land increased greatly. For the whole area, the net change and total change were insignificant due to weak human activity intensity in most of the study area, and the LUCC was dominated by quasi-balanced two-way transitions from 1990 to 2010. The insignificant overall amount of LUCC appears to have resulted from offsetting of rapid increases in population, economic growth, and the im- plementation of a program to return farmland to woodland and grassland in 2000. This program converted more farmland into woodland and grassland from 2000 to 2010 than from 1990 to 2000, but reclamation of woodland and grassland for use as farmland continued from 2000 to 2010, and is a cause for concern to the local government.

Land Use/Land Cover Changes of Ago-Owu Forest Reserve, Osun State, Nigeria Using Remote Sensing Techniques

Remote sensing (RS) and GIS are important methods for land use assessment and land cover transition. In this study, land use/land cover changes in the Ago-Owu Forest Reserve, Osun State, Nigeria have been assessed. Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI were acquired for 1986, 2002 and 2017 respectively. The three scenes corresponded to path 190 and row 055 of WRS-2 (Worldwide Reference System). The processing of the imagery was preceded by the clipping of the study area from the satellite image. The boundary of the reserve was carefully digitized and used to clip the imagery to produce an image map of the forest reserve. Using the supervised image classification procedure, training sites were used to produce land use/land cover maps. The same classification scheme was used for the 1986, 2002 and 2017 images to facilitate the detection of change. The differences in the area covered by the different polygons between the three sets of images were measured in km2. The results show that during 1986 and 2017, there is a dramatic increase of build-up areas with a change of 55.65 km2 and sparse vegetation (farmland and grassland) with a change of 53.97 km2, while a dramatic decrease of dense vegetation (forest areas) with a change of 109.61 km2. The consequence of these results is that over the years, the population of people living in the forest reserve has increased and many of them are engaged in farming, leading to an increase in farmland. In addition, logging activities continued unabated in the forest reserve, as demonstrated by a sharp increase in the deforested area within the reserve. The maps produced in this study will serve as a planning tool for the Osun State Forestry Department to plan reforestation activities for the forest reserve.

Land use/land cover change responses to ecological water conveyance in the lower reaches of Tarim River,China

The Tarim River is the longest inland river in China and is considered as an important river to protect the oasis economy and environment of the Tarim Basin.However,excessive exploitation and over-utilization of natural resources,particularly water resources,have triggered a series of ecological and environmental problems,such as the reduction in the volume of water in the main river,deterioration of water quality,drying up of downstream rivers,degradation of vegetation,and land desertification.In this study,the land use/land cover change(LUCC)responses to ecological water conveyance in the lower reaches of the Tarim River were investigated using ENVI(Environment for Visualizing Images)and GIS(Geographic Information System)data analysis software for the period of 1990-2018.Multi-temporal remote sensing images and ecological water conveyance data from 1990 to 2018 were used.The results indicate that LUCC covered an area of 2644.34 km^(2) during this period,accounting for 15.79%of the total study area.From 1990 to 2018,wetland,farmland,forestland,and artificial surfaces increased by 533.42 km^(2)(216.77%),446.68 km^(2)(123.66%),284.55 km^(2)(5.67%),and 57.51 km^(2)(217.96%),respectively,whereas areas covered by grassland and other land use/land cover types,such as Gobi,bare soil,and deserts,decreased by 103.34 km2(14.31%)and 1218.83 km2(11.75%),respectively.Vegetation area decreased first and then increased,with the order of 2010<2000<1990<2018.LUCC in the overflow and stagnant areas in the lower reaches of the Tarim River was mainly characterized by fragmentation,irregularity,and complexity.By analyzing the LUCC responses to 19 rounds of ecological water conveyance in the lower reaches of the Tarim River from 2000 to the end of 2018,we proposed guidelines for the rational development and utilization of water and soil resources and formulation of strategies for the sustainable development of the lower reaches of the Tarim River.This study provides scientific guidance for optimal scheduling of water resources in the region.

Land use and land cover change in Liaocheng Prefecture of China

Liaocheng Prefecture is located in North China Plain with a long reclamation history of more than 10000 years. In this study the author applied data to explain the relationship between land use pattern and physical, social and economic factors and further to find out driving forces which lead to land use changes in such an agricultural region. Data of three different time points on township level were taken into account to explain the land use pattern, and land use changes. And 40-year county level data were applied to analyze the driving forces. Canonical Correlation Analysis was conducted to explain the relationship between land use pattern and social and economic factors; and Linear Regression Analysis was used to find out driving forces of land use change, thus to project the future trend of land use change in Liaocheng Prefecture.

Susceptibility to gravitational processes due to land cover change in the Río Chiquito-Barranca del Muerto subbasin(Pico De Orizaba Volcano, México)

Land cover change can lead to slope instability by accelerating erosive processes associated with agriculture, forestry, and infrastructure. The Rio Chiquito-Barranca del Muerto subbasin has experienced an increase in land cover change due to government programs and the establishment of agricultural and urban areas. The aim of this study was to provide a model to map the susceptibility to gravitational processes along sites where anthropogenic land cover change has occurred.The method was based on the stratification of the subbasin according to landforms and cartographic variables. These variables were used in a multicriteria assessment to assign weights according to their contribution to the onset of new gravitational processes. Those weights were used to create a susceptibility map based on a weighted linear sum.The accuracy of the resulting map was validated in an error matrix with a random stratified design based on susceptibility classes per landform. The results produced a map of areas with susceptibility to gravitational processes due to land cover change; this susceptibility is very high in the undifferentiated pyroclastic slope and limestone mountain, where it derives not only from anthropogenic effects on natural vegetation cover, but also from steep slopes,weathered materials, low apparent density, high erosivity, and previous gravitational processes. The results support other studies that concluded that loss of vegetation is a triggering factor in the formation of gravitational processes, but also show that excessive reforestation can increase gravitational processes.

1998’s floods in the Changjiang River and the land use/land cover change in the upper and middle-lower reaches in the past 50 years

Flood of Changjiang River (the Yangtze) in 1998 is so serious that it arouses our keen concern about its causes. In this paper, the authors bring out a brief history of the flood disaster happened to the Changjiang River Valley in the last six centuries and analyze the causes for the frequent flood disaters based on the land use and land cover change in the upper and middle-lower reaches of the Changjiang River.

Overview of recent land cover changes,forest harvest areas,and soil erosion trends in Nordic countries

Mapping spatiotemporal land cover changes offers opportunities to better understand trends and drivers of envi-ronmental change and helps to identify more sustainable land management strategies.This study investigates the spatiotemporal patterns of changes in land covers,forest harvest areas and soil erosion rates in Nordic countries,namely Norway,Sweden,Finland,and Denmark.This region is highly sensitive to environmental changes,as it is experiencing high levels of human pressure and among the highest rates of global warming.An analysis that uses consistent land cover dataset to quantify and compares the recent spatiotemporal changes in land cover in the Nordic countries is missing.The recent products issued by the European Space Agency and the Copernicus Climate Change Service framework provide the possibility to investigate the historical land cover changes from 1992 to 2018 at 300 m resolution.These maps are then integrated with time series of forest harvest areas be-tween 2004 and 2018 to study if and how forest management is represented in land cover products,and with soil erosion data to explore status and recent trends in agricultural land.Land cover changes typically involved from 4%to 9%of the total area in each country.Wetland showed the strongest reduction(11,003 km^(2),−11%of the wetland area in 1992),followed by forest(8,607 km^(2),−1%)and sparse vegetation(5,695 km^(2),−7%),while agriculture(15,884 km^(2),16%)and settlement(3,582 km^(2),84%)showed net increases.Wetland shrinkage dominated land cover changes in Norway(5,870 km^(2),−18%),followed by forest and grassland with a net gain of 3,441 km^(2)(3%)and 3,435 km^(2)(10%),respectively.In Sweden,forest areas decreased 13,008 km^(2)(−4%),mainly due to agriculture expansion(9,211 km^(2),29%).In Finland,agricultural areas increased by 5,982 km^(2)(24%),and wetland decreased by 6,698 km^(2)(−22%).Settlement had the largest net growth in Denmark(717 km^(2),70%),mainly from conversion of agriculture land.Soil erosion rates in Nordic countries are lower than the global average,but they are exacerbating in several locations(especially western Norway).The integration of the land cover datasets with maps of forest harvest areas shows that the majority of the losses in forest cover due to forestry operations are largely undetected,but a non-negligible share of the forest-to-agriculture(up to 19%)or forest-to-grassland(up to 51%)transitions overlap with the harvested sites.Forestry activity in the study region primarily involves small-scale harvest events that are difficult to be detected at the 300 m resolution of the land cover dataset.An accurate representation of forest management remains a challenge for global datasets of land cover time series,and more interdisciplinary international efforts are needed to address this gap.Overall,this analysis provides a detailed overview of recent changes in land cover and forest management in Nordic countries as represented by state-of-the-art global datasets,and offers insights to future studies aiming to improve these data or apply them in land surface models,climate models,landscape ecology,or other applications.

Driving Force Analysis of Land Cover Change in Ulan Buh Desert Based on Markov Chain

The Ulan Buh Desert has a fragile natural environment, which is in the western part of Inner Mongolia arid climate zone and the farming and animal husbandry ecotone. In order to explore the driving force mechanism of the Land Cover Change, the paper constructed the natural-human driving force model by the Markov Chain based on Landsat MSS 1973, 1977 remote sensing image data, analyzed the naturalhuman driving force contribution rate to the Land Cover Change in Ulan Buh Desert. The results showed that in 1989-2013 the main driving force of the Ulan Buh Desert Land Cover Change is the natural factors, average contribution rate is 89.46%, then is the human driving force, the rate is 10.54%. The natural-human driving force contribution rate for every land cover type is different, in natural part, the minimum rate is saline-alkali land for 45.20%, while the maximum is sandy land(90.63%). The human driving force rate of forest land, grassland and water was negative, it shows that human factors slows down or hinder the growth of this kind of land cover. Because of the humanistic attribute, the natural effect of the cultivated land and construction land was abandoned, the rates of human driving are significantly different: the change of human driving force is 24.94%, while the change of construction land is 62.9%.

Assessing the Impact of Land Use and Land Cover Change on Air Quality in East Baton Rouge—Louisiana Using Earth Observation Techniques

There has been significant research in recent decades on Land use Land cover (LULC) changes and their influence on biodiversity but little to no research on its impact on air quality. This research seeks to demonstrate how geospatial technologies such as geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing can be used to assess the effects of LULC changes on particulate matter emissions and their impact on air quality in the East Baton Rouge area. In pursuit of these objectives, this study uses LANDSAT imageries from the past 30 years specifically Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM C2L2) and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager/Thermal Infrared (OLI/TIRS C2L2) covering 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 were collected, processed, and analyzed for the LULC change analysis using QGIS software. Additionally, Sentinel 5P and the Air quality index from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were used to assess the air quality trend over the years to establish the correlation between LULC and air quality. Results showed an increasing trend in air quality over the past 3 decades with concentrations of CO, NO2, and PM2.5 abruptly falling however, urbanization and the population expanded throughout the time. The paper concludes by outlining a policy recommendation in the form of encouraging Louisiana residents to use alternative renewable energies rather than the over-dependence on coal-fired electric generating plants that have an impact on the environment.