A Synthesis of Studies on Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics during 1930–2015 in Bangladesh

Raju Rai,Shicheng Li,Yili Zhang,Basanta Paudel,Narendra Khanal

doi:10.3390/su9101866

Abstract

Land use and land cover (LULC) is dynamic and changes in it have important environmental and socio-economic consequences. The pathways and pace of change vary with space and time and are related to the interaction between human activities and biophysical conditions in an area. This study provides a systematic review of the changing status, patterns, and compositions of LULC in Bangladesh on national, regional, and local scales over the past 85 years. The primary LULC classes in Bangladesh are agricultural land, urban and built-up area, forest and vegetation, water bodies, and wetlands. Most of the country is covered with agricultural land, followed by urban areas; the latter has been expanding rapidly in the area surrounding the capital city, Dhaka, especially the southern capital area. Forest cover is mostly concentrated in southeast Bangladesh, the Chittagong district, and the mangrove forests are predominantly located in the southwest, with the Gangetic delta. High population growth, rapid urbanization, and infrastructure development have been directly associated with changing patterns of land use across the country. In recent decades, urban areas and water bodies have been increasing, to the detriment of both forests and agricultural land. Most of the studies reviewed here describe a general trend involving agricultural and forested land being transformed into urban areas.

Highlights

Land cover is the physical cover observed on the Earth’s surface, and land use describes its function [1]; both are fundamental components of global environmental change with direct implications for the Earth’s climate, ecology, and human society [2]
Increasing population growth has resulted in high rates of deforestation and large tracts of forests transitioning into cultivated land; this transition has been recognized as a dominant land cover worldwide [6]
The major documented issues associated with land use and land cover change (LUCC) are forest cover change, logging, fires, drainage or other forms of alteration of wetlands, soil degradation in croplands, and changes in the extent and productive capacity of pastoral lands [8]

Summary

Introduction

Land cover is the physical cover observed on the Earth’s surface, and land use describes its function [1]; both are fundamental components of global environmental change with direct implications for the Earth’s climate, ecology, and human society [2]. Anthropogenic activities have been the dominant force shaping land use in recent years [3], their impacts vary spatially and temporally [4]. Global land use change has been characterized by urban area growth and expanding agricultural land [5]. Increasing population growth has resulted in high rates of deforestation and large tracts of forests transitioning into cultivated land; this transition has been recognized as a dominant land cover worldwide [6]. Asia has undergone the most rapid land cover changes in recent years; which has resulted in rapidly increasing cropland and large-scale deforestation in south Asian countries [7]. Between 1990–2000 and 2000–2005, forest transformations to other land uses have increased from 3 to 6 million ha per year in Asia [9]

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