Land Cover and Land Use Change Detection Using Object-Based Image Analysis in Kaghan Valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Land Cover and Land Use Change Detection Using Object-Based Image Analysis in Kaghan Valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Aamir Shakeel1*, Anwar Ali2, Tahir Iqbal1 and Ziad Raza1
ABSTRACT
Since 2000, the anthropogenic and natural drivers have a great impact on the land use land cover of the Kaghan valley in Mansehra District. Rapid, unplanned and unsustainable urbanization in the area has changed the landscape of the area to a great deal. Forests are one of the worst affected land cover in a result of the changing landuse. This analysis examines the dynamics of Land Use Land Cover (LULC) changes in Kaghan Valley between 2004 and 2012 with range of observation of 4 years i.e., 2004, 2008 and 2012. The study reveals distinct shifts in various LULC categories, encompassing cropland, forest land, grassland, other land, settlements, and wetlands. Notable trends include a decrease in cropland area by 13.72%, possibly due to urbanization and shifts in agricultural practices. Forest land experienced a 5.30% decrease, likely due to deforestation and land conversion. Grassland saw a modest increase of 1.94%, potentially resulting from natural processes and land management changes. An expansion of 5.59% was observed in the “Other Land” category, which may involve complex land use changes. The most striking change was a 158.82% increase in settlements, reflecting rapid urbanization and infrastructure development. Wetlands expanded by 4.62%, possibly due to both natural fluctuations and human interventions. These changes signify the intricate interplay between human activities and natural factors, highlighting the need for informed land management strategies to ensure sustainable development in the region by using remote sensing images and Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) techniques the changes in LULC can be examine. OBIA uses image segmentations on the basis of scale, colour, form compactness and smoothness. The research is an effort to apply OBIA and classification techniques to Landsat satellite images to detect the changes in LULC in Kaghan valley with range of observation of 4 years i.e., 2004 to 2008 and 2012.
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