The development processes and regional differentiation of both banks of the Strait of Malacca during 1980–2010

Abstract

As one of the international waterways connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Strait of Malacca has different degrees of influence on the surrounding coastal development and construction. In this study, the Landsat MSS/TM images during four periods (1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010) were selected in order to extract the coastlines of both banks of the Strait of Malacca, as well as the development and utilization intensity information on the landward side within a 20 km area, for the purpose of conducting research regarding the development processes and regional differentiation of both of the banks. The results revealed that during the past 30 years, due to the construction of the coastal cities and the river diversion and sediment accumulation, the Malaysian west coast has been extended by 4.8%. In the study area on the eastern coast of Sumatra, the coastline has been extended by 2.96%. Furthermore, after 30 years of land development processes, the urban construction land areas have respectively expanded by 2.3 times and 3.5 times on the Malaysian western coast and the Sumatra eastern coast. In regards to the agricultural land, the areas with moderate development intensity and above (>0.5) were respectively expanded from 36.37% to 54.96% and 22.02%–44.56% on the western coast of Malaysia and eastern coast of Sumatra. Up until 2010, the urban construction land areas of Singapore accounted for 61.66%, and 58.2% of the areas were high-intensity development zones (>0.6). The differences between each of these are obvious. The regional differentiation in the coastal development degree of the Strait of Malacca was found to be closely related to port construction, channel distances, economic policies, infrastructure, and security. The development and construction degrees were different on each of the banks, which also produced certain effects on the stability of the strait.