Assessing the impact of anthropogenic activities on land use and land cover changes in the semi-arid and arid regions of Algeria.

Abstract

Land use and land cover are critical factors that influence the environment and human societies. The dynamics of LULC have been constantly changing over the years, and these changes can be analyzed at different spatial and temporal scales to evaluate their impact on the natural environment. This study employs multitemporal satellite data to investigate the spatial and temporal transformations that occurred in Sidi Bel Abbes province, situated in the northwestern region of Algeria, spanning from the early 1990s to 2020. Notably, this province is marked by semi-arid and arid climates and hosts a wide range of areas susceptible to gravitational hazards, especially concerning alterations in land use and forest fires. The interactive supervised classification tool utilized multiple machine learning algorithms including Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, Classification and Regression Tree, and Naïve Bayes to produce land cover maps with six main classes: forest, shrub, agricultural, pasture, water, and built-up. The findings showed that the LULC in the research area is undergoing continuous change, particularly in the forest and agricultural lands. The forest area has decreased significantly from 10.80% in 1990 to 5.25% in 2020, mainly due to repeated fires. Agricultural land has also undergone fluctuations, with a decrease between 1990 and 2000, followed by a fast increase and near stabilization in 2020. At the same time, pasture lands and built-up areas grew steadily, increasing by 11% and 13% respectively. This research highlights the significant impact of anthropogenic activities on LULC changes in the study area and can provide valuable insights for promoting sustainable land use policies.