Abstract
Land use and land cover (LULC) change is considered among the most discussed issues associated with development nowadays. It is necessary to provide factual and up-to-date information to policymakers to fulfil the increasing population’s food, work, and habitation needs while ensuring environmental sustainability. Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote sensing can perform such work adequately. This study aims to assess land use and land cover changes concerning the Barapukuria coal mine and its adjacent areas in Bangladesh by applying remote sensing and GIS (geographical information system) techniques. This research work used time-series satellite images from the Landsat 7 ETM+ satellite between 1999 and 2009 and the Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS satellite for 2019. Supervised classification maximum likelihood classifier matrix was implemented using ERDAS Imagine 2018. The images were categorised into four definite classes: settlement, agricultural land, forest land, and waterbody. Analytical results clearly indicated that settlements and agricultural land had increasing and decreasing trends over the past 20 years, respectively. Settlements increased from 22% to 34% between 1999 and 2019. However, agricultural land reduced from 69% to 59% in the same period. Settlements grew by more than 50% during this period. The research had an overall accuracy of 70%, while the kappa coefficient was more than 0.60. There were land subsidence issues because of mining activities, leading to 1.003 km2 area being depressed and 1500 houses cracked. This research depicts the present LULC scenario and the impact of the coalfield area. It is expected to reduce the burden on policymakers to prepare a proper and effective mines development policy in Bangladesh and meet sustainable development goal (SDG) 15 (Life on land).
Highlights
IntroductionLand cover and land use (LULC) changes are frequently applied in the same context [1]
In 1999, the study area was dominantly covered by agricultural land (69%)
In 2009, the study area was dominantly covered by agricultural land (68%)
Summary
Land cover and land use (LULC) changes are frequently applied in the same context [1]. Land cover describes the natural characteristics of the earth’s surface, i.e., the dissemination of vegetation, water, soil and other elements of the land [2]. Land use considers the human aspect of land use, emphasising the economic aspects [2]. Physical and socio-economic factors are the primary determinants influencing land use and land cover in an area. The changes in land cover/land use, mainly due to human intervention, play a vital role in comprehensively changing the atmosphere [3]. Geographical Information System (GIS) and remote sensing techniques
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