Assessing land use/land cover change and its driving forces using GIS technique: case study in Kon Tum province

Abstract

In recent years, land use changes in Kon Tum province have been significantly transformation. Hence, there is an urgent need for Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) change assessment in Kon Tum province during two recent decades. The present study employed GIS technique to examine potential changes in different land-use types between 2005-2010, 2010-2015 and 2015-2020 periods. To do this, several LULC maps representing the existing condition of LULC for the years 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020 were subjected to the GIS technique. The outcomes show that there was significant conversion in agricultural land (NNP), increasing from 10.38% (2005) to 29.87% (2020) of the total study area. Furthermore, about 30.08% of unused land (CSD) and more than 10% of forest land (LNP) area were converted into agricultural land during each period. However, a large proportion of agricultural land (about 25.2%) was converted into other types of land use for the three periods. On the other hand, other types of land use coded as residential land (OTC) and built-up land (PNN) experienced large changes of about 171.66% and 245.67, and CSD exhibited a strong decrease (-99,83%) during 2005-2020 period. Several factors including climate change, international economic integration, science and technology, population growth and human resources, land resources, infrastructure, market, and policies of the local government were identified as driving forces of the LULC change in the province. Overall, it is expected that these findings will be conducive to the establishment of a general framework for land use planning in Kon Tum province.