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Sustainability Assessment of Land Use and Land Cover

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 December 2017) | Viewed by 60803

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Dr. Olena Dubovyk

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Centre for Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces (ZFL), Geography Institute, University of Bonn, Genscherallee 3, D-53113 Bonn, Germany
Interests: remote sensing of land surface dynamics; remote sensing for land degradation and drought monitoring & assessment; remote sensing for agricultural applications; Earth observation and geo-information for policy support and international cooperation support (SDGs, Sendai indicators etc)
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Prof. Dr. Sven Lautenbach

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University of Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 166, 53115 Bonn, Germany
Interests: land use and land use change (modeling) and the interlinkage between land use and ecosystem services

Dr. Frank Thonfeld

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Department of Geography, University of Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 166, 53115 Bonn, Germany

Dr. Andreas Rienow

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Department of Geography, University of Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 166, 53115 Bonn, Germany

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, global changes to forests and farmlands, urban areas have been driven by the need to provide food, fiber, water, and shelter to more than 7.5 billion people. These changes are accompanied by large increases in energy, water, and fertilizer consumption, along with considerable loss of biodiversity. We face the challenge of managing trade-offs between immediate human needs and sustainable capacity in land use and land cover (LULC) in order to provide goods and services in the long term. Sustainability assessment of LULC changes addresses environmental, social and economic dimensions of these processes. Sustainability assessment requires an inter-disciplinary approach to assess, analyze and model LULC changes using current advances in land system science, with a special emphasis on modern methodological approaches and models based on Earth Observation (EO) datasets.

In this light, the current Special Issue is focused on a number of topics including: Multi-scale mapping of LULC using EO datasets, LULC change detection to support sustainable land management, monitoring land degradation and desertification, the role of EO to support the sustainable development goals (SDGs), history of LULC, and modelling future LULC patterns. Other covered areas are addressed in several case studies: Climate change impacts on LULC, adaptation of land use to environmental change, assessment and modelling of ecosystem services (e.g., net primary production), and biodiversity. Such case studies may also be analyses of socio-ecological linkages, economic and ecological values, sustainability indicators, human/ecological footprints, and the consequences of land use intensity on the natural condition, diversity, and patterns of landscapes.

Papers selected for this Special Issue are a subject to rigorous peer-review, with the aim of rapid and wide dissemination of research results, new developments and applications.

Dr. Olena Dubovyk
Prof. Sven Lautenbach
Dr. Frank Thonfeld
Dr. Andreas Rienow
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Land use and land cover change detection to support sustainable land management based on Earth Observation (EO) methods
Habitat conservation, preservation, and rehabilitation
Sustainable natural resource management
Environmental compliance
Monitoring of essential biodiversity indicators
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Multi-temporal/ time-series analysis/ multiple datasets
Case studies on using EO and GIS to support sustainable use of environmental resources
Sustainable indicators
Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Land use and land cover modeling

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 21878 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mapping Mangroves Extents on the Red Sea Coastline in Egypt using Polarimetric SAR and High Resolution Optical Remote Sensing Data

by Ayman Abdel-Hamid, Olena Dubovyk, Islam Abou El-Magd and Gunter Menz

Sustainability 2018, 10(3), 646; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10030646 - 28 Feb 2018

Cited by 40 | Viewed by 8415

Abstract

Mangroves ecosystems dominate the coastal wetlands of tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world. They are among the most productive forest ecosystems. They provide various ecological and economic ecosystem services. Despite of their economic and ecological importance, mangroves experience high yearly loss rates. There is a growing demand for mapping and assessing changes in mangroves extents especially in the context of climate change, land use change, and related threats to coastal ecosystems. The main objective of this study is to develop an approach for mapping of mangroves extents on the Red Sea coastline in Egypt, through the integration of both L-band SAR data of ALOS/PALSAR, and high resolution optical data of RapidEye. This was achieved via using object-based image analysis method, through applying different machine learning algorithms, and evaluating various features such as spectral properties, texture features, and SAR derived parameters for discrimination of mangroves ecosystem classes. Three non-parametric machine learning algorithms were tested for mangroves mapping; random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), and classification and regression trees (CART). As an input for the classifiers, we tested various features including vegetation indices (VIs) and texture analysis using the gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM). The object-based analysis method allowed clearly discriminating the different land cover classes within mangroves ecosystem. The highest overall accuracy (92.15%) was achieved by the integrated SAR and optical data. Among all classifiers tested, RF performed better than other classifiers. Using L-band SAR data integrated with high resolution optical data was beneficial for mapping and characterization of mangroves growing in small patches. The maps produced represents an important updated reference suitable for developing a regional action plan for conservation and management of mangroves resources along the Red Sea coastline. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Assessment of Land Use and Land Cover)

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2155 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial–Temporal Patterns and Driving Forces of Ecological-Living-Production Land in Hubei Province, Central China

by Enxiang Cai, Ying Jing, Yaolin Liu, Chaohui Yin, Yuan Gao and Junqing Wei

Sustainability 2018, 10(1), 66; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10010066 - 28 Dec 2017

Cited by 38 | Viewed by 4806

Abstract

Ecological-living-production land (ELPL) is gaining an increasing attention of governors, planners and scholars to alleviate ecological deterioration on the premise of ensuring regional sustainable development in China. This paper has built an ecological-living-production land classification system (ELCS) by the reclassification method, and further analyzed the spatio-temporal characteristics and evolution mechanism of ELPL from 2009 to 2014 with a case study of Hubei Province of Central China. The results show that (1) land with an ecological function held a dominant role in Hubei Province. Ecological land (EL) and production-eco land (PEL) covered the largest areas. The area of EL was the largest in Western Hubei Eco-cultural Tourism Circle (WHETC), and the area of PEL accounted for the largest proportion in Wuhan Urban Circle (WUC). (2) Land with an ecological function was decreasing continuously, while the land with living function expanded rapidly. Additionally, the intensity of ELPL changes in the WUC was higher than that in the WHETC. (3) The changes of ELPL threatened the food and ecological security and adversely affected the sustainable development. The factors of population growth and GDP increase were the main driving forces of ELPL change. The results of this study provide valuable information for planning decision makings (e.g., the ELPL spatial pattern optimization). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Assessment of Land Use and Land Cover)

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3295 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Drought Dynamics and Vegetation Productivity in Different Land Management Systems of Eastern Cape, South Africa—A Remote Sensing Perspective

by Valerie Graw, Gohar Ghazaryan, Karen Dall, Andoni Delgado Gómez, Ayman Abdel-Hamid, Andries Jordaan, Ruben Piroska, Joachim Post, Jörg Szarzynski, Yvonne Walz and Olena Dubovyk

Sustainability 2017, 9(10), 1728; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9101728 - 26 Sep 2017

Cited by 35 | Viewed by 13120

Abstract

Eastern Cape Province in South Africa has experienced extreme drought events during the last decade. In South Africa, different land management systems exist belonging to two different land tenure classes: commercial large scale farming and communal small-scale subsistence farming. Communal lands are often reported to be affected by land degradation and drought events among others considered as trigger for this process. Against this background, we analyzed vegetation response to drought in different land management and land tenure systems through assessing vegetation productivity trends and monitoring the intensity, frequency and distribution of the drought hazard in grasslands and communal and commercial croplands during drought and non-drought conditions. For the observation period 2000–2016, we used time series of 250 m Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) based on the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and Climate Hazard Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS) precipitation data with 5 km resolution. For the assessment of vegetation dynamics, we: (1) analyzed vegetation productivity in Eastern Cape over the last 16 years with EVI; (2) analyzed the impact of drought events on vegetation productivity in grasslands as well as commercial and communal croplands; and (3) compared precipitation-vegetation dynamics between the drought season 2015/2016 and the non-drought season 2011/2012. Change in total annual vegetation productivity could detect drought years while drought dynamics during the season could be rather monitored by the VCI. Correlation of vegetation condition and precipitation indicated areas experiencing significant vegetation productivity trends showing low and even negative correlation coefficients indicating other drivers for productivity change and drought impact besides rainfall. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Assessment of Land Use and Land Cover)

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3010 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainability in the Food-Water-Ecosystem Nexus: The Role of Land Use and Land Cover Change for Water Resources and Ecosystems in the Kilombero Wetland, Tanzania

by Constanze Leemhuis, Frank Thonfeld, Kristian Näschen, Stefanie Steinbach, Javier Muro, Adrian Strauch, Ander López, Giuseppe Daconto, Ian Games and Bernd Diekkrüger

Sustainability 2017, 9(9), 1513; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9091513 - 24 Aug 2017

Cited by 53 | Viewed by 11173

Abstract

Land Use Land Cover Change (LULCC) has a significant impact on water resources and ecosystems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). On the basis of three research projects we aim to describe and discuss the potential, uncertainties, synergies and science-policy interfaces of satellite-based integrated research for the Kilombero catchment, comprising one of the major agricultural utilized floodplains in Tanzania. LULCC was quantified at the floodplain and catchment scale analyzing Landsat 5 and Sentinel 2 satellite imagery applying different adapted classification methodologies. LULC maps at the catchment scale serve as spatial input for the distributed, process-based ecohydrological model SWAT (Soil Water Assessment Tool) simulating the changes in the spatial and temporal water balance in runoff components caused by LULCC. The results reveal that over the past 26 years LULCC has significantly altered the floodplain and already shows an impact on the ecosystem by degrading the existing wildlife corridors. On the catchment scale the anomalies of the water balance are still marginal, but with the expected structural changes of the catchment there is an urgent need to increase the public awareness and knowledge of decision makers regarding the effect of the relationship between LULCC, water resources and environmental degradation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Assessment of Land Use and Land Cover)

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8057 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Deforestation on Agro-Environmental Variables in Cropland, North Korea

by Chul-Hee Lim, Yuyoung Choi, Moonil Kim, Seong Woo Jeon and Woo-Kyun Lee

Sustainability 2017, 9(8), 1354; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9081354 - 1 Aug 2017

Cited by 30 | Viewed by 8321

Abstract

Deforestation in North Korea is becoming the epitome of the environmental change occurring in the Korean Peninsula. This study estimates the agro-environmental variables of North Korea’s croplands and analyzes the impact of deforestation using the GEPIC (GIS-based EPIC (Environmental Policy Integrated Climate)) model and time-series land cover maps. To identify the changes in agricultural quality under deforestation, wind erosion, water erosion, organic carbon loss, and runoff were selected as the agro-environmental variables having an impact on cropland stability and productivity. Land cover maps spanning the past three decades showed that 75% of the forests were converted to croplands and that 69% of all converted croplands were originally forests, confirming the significant correlation between deforestation and cropland expansion in North Korea. Despite limitations in the verification data, we conducted qualitative and quantitative validation of the estimated variables and confirmed that our results were reasonable. Over the past 30 years, agro-environmental variables showed no clear time-series changes resulting from climate change, but changes due to spatial differences were seen. Negative changes in organic carbon loss, water erosion, and runoff were observed, regardless of the crop type. On newly-converted agricultural lands, runoff is 1.5 times higher and water-driven erosion and soil organic loss are more than twice as high compared to older croplands. The results showed that the agro-environment affected by deforestation had an impact on cropland stability and productivity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Assessment of Land Use and Land Cover)

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1835 KiB

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Scenario-Based Simulation on Dynamics of Land-Use-Land-Cover Change in Punjab Province, Pakistan

by Abdus Samie, Xiangzheng Deng, Siqi Jia and Dongdong Chen

Sustainability 2017, 9(8), 1285; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9081285 - 27 Jul 2017

Cited by 77 | Viewed by 7581

Abstract

The dramatic changes in land use are associated with various influencing factors such as socioeconomic, climatic, geophysical and proximity factors. Hence, understanding the driving mechanisms of land use changes is crucial to determine the pattern of future changes in land use. The aim of this study is to project the future land use and land cover changes from 2010 to 2030 in Punjab province under three scenarios: Business-as-Usual scenario (BAU), Rapid Economic Growth scenario (REG) and Coordinated Environmental Sustainability scenario (CES). This article used the previously developed Dynamics of Land System (DLS) model to simulate the land use changes in response to the driving mechanisms. The results indicate that cultivated land and built-up areas would expand while areas of water and grassland would face contraction under all three scenarios. Nevertheless, future land demand varies in different scenarios. Under the CES scenario; forest area would expand in the future while large reduction in unused land would be observed. Under the REG scenario, augmented expansion of built-up areas and drastic decrease in forest areas would be the main features of land use changes. Our findings in the scenario analysis of land use changes can provide a reference case for sustainable land use planning and management in Punjab province. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Assessment of Land Use and Land Cover)

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4125 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Metrics of Urban Sustainability: A Case Study of Changing Downtowns in Thunder Bay, Canada

by Todd Randall, Trevor Kavalchuk and Reg Nelson

Sustainability 2017, 9(7), 1272; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9071272 - 19 Jul 2017

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 6120

Abstract

Thunder Bay, a medium-sized city in Northern Ontario, has a twin downtown core model, arising from the merging of two former cities in 1970. Its north core, designated as the City’s Entertainment District has received considerable investment, notably a major waterfront renewal project undertaken in 2009 as part of an overall strategy towards downtown revitalization. Greater diversity of commercial functions and increasing residential capacity in downtowns are considered positive steps towards sustainable urban development. It is hoped the leadership taken by the City in its downtown capital investments can stimulate others (corporations and individuals) to re-invest in both living and working in more central locations to the benefit of environmental sustainability indicators like journey-to-work (distance and mode selected) and residential density. This article tracks changes in business composition and residential capacity during a five year period via the development of an intensive database of business and institutional activities. Urban sustainability metrics developed include residential capacity and density, business vacancy rates and business composition and turnover, which complement an existing measure of land-use diversity developed in earlier research. While major capital investments in downtown revitalization (such as the waterfront project) have fairly long-term impact horizons, data suggest some positive trends in the developed metrics in the downtown north core since 2009. In particular, there have been notable investments in waterfront condos and downtown lofts and some diversification in the food retailing and restaurant sectors. However, overall trends in downtown commerce are currently flat, indicative of a struggling local economy and a continued suburbanization of key commercial sectors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Assessment of Land Use and Land Cover)

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