Consequences of land use changes on natural forests and rangelands in North-western Iran during ۲۰۰۳ to ۲۰۲۳

During the past decades, massive land use changes have had severe impacts on all natural ecosystems of Iran, primarily leading to declining ecosystem services. This research assesses the changes in land use. It evaluates their impact on natural forests and rangelands for the Fandoghlo region (۲۰۰۳–۲۰۲۳), based on remote sensing (RS) satellite images and geographic information systems (GIS). To prepare land use data, Landsat-۷ ETM+ (August ۲۰۰۳) and Landsat ۸ OLI/TIRS L۱TP (Level-۱ Precision Terrain) images (June ۲۰۲۳) were extracted from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Supervised classification was performed using the Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification algorithm. Analysis of the change matrix for the images of ۲۰۰۳ and ۲۰۲۳ was performed using the change detection tool in ENVI ۵.۶ software. The overall accuracy for the classified images was ۹۲.۱% (۲۰۰۳) and ۹۴.۸% (۲۰۲۳). In addition, the values of the Kappa coefficient for the years ۲۰۰۳ and ۲۰۲۳ were ۰.۸۹ and ۰.۹۲, respectively. Based on the results, a considerable reduction has been observed during these ۲۰ years in forests and rangelands, which has led to a decrease in their role in the balance of natural ecosystems. Between ۲۰۰۳ and ۲۰۲۳, agricultural lands and built-up areas increased by ۱۴.۵% and ۳۰.۶%, respectively. On the other hand, forests and rangelands decreased by ۸.۶% and ۱۶.۶%, respectively. Most of these land use changes are unplanned and mainly due to anthropogenic activities with a wide range of negative effects on natural ecosystems. The results of this study can help policymakers understand the land use change patterns and formulate an effective and environmentally compatible land use policy in the study area.

کلیدواژه ها:

Iran ، Land cover ، Remote Sensing ، Ecosystems