Mapping Land Use Land Cover Change in the Lower Mekong Basin from 1997 to 2010

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Remote Sensing
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Background:

• The Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) is a biodiverse and economically vital region supporting 65 million people.
• The LMB has experienced significant environmental shifts since the 1990s, driven by agriculture, deforestation, urbanization, and natural disasters.
• The Mekong River is crucial for transportation, livelihoods, and water resources in the region.

Purpose of the Study:

• To derive a Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) change map for the LMB between 1997 and 2010.
• To provide updated LULC data for Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrologic modeling in the LMB.
• To analyze trends in LULC change and inform environmental management strategies.

Main Methods:

• Utilized pre-existing LULC maps from 1997 and 2010.
• Employed GIS overlay techniques to create a regional LULC change map with 9 classes.
• Assessed map accuracy using 213 randomly sampled locations against reference data.

Main Results:

• The 1997-2010 LULC change map indicated trends such as agricultural expansion into forests and conversion of agricultural land to industrial plantations.
• Forest cover showed changes, including shifts to shifting cultivation or permanent crops, and improved urban area classification in the 2010 map.
• Regionally, agriculture decreased by 4% while deciduous and evergreen forests combined increased by 4%, though deforestation hotspots were identified.

Conclusions:

• The derived LULC datasets are valuable for further studies on LMB LULC change impacts on water, agriculture, forestry, and disaster management.
• High accuracy was achieved for the 1997 and 2010 LULC maps (exceeding 87%), with moderate to high agreement for the change map (~78-83%).
• Further research is needed to map and assess LULC changes after 2010 and update current LMB SWAT models.