Regional trends of land use/land cover transformation in Brazil during 2001-2012 were analyzed in the following order: 1) identification of the types of transitions for different land use and land cover categories and aggregated groups of transformation processes based on the Global Land Cover Facility datasets, 2) analysis of national agricultural and forestry statistics to find out the principal socioeconomic drivers, 3) land cover and land use data merging to elaborate comprehensive typology of land use/land cover changes on a regional level. The study evealed 96 types of transitions between land cover categories, aggregated into 10 groups corresponding to driving processes. It was found that the main processes of land cover transformations is related to both natural and anthropogenic origins. Cropping and deforestation are anthropogenic processes, flooding and draining are the principal natural ones. Transformation of cultivated lands and reforestation are combined natural and anthropogenic. The contribution of natural factors is higher in the states of the North (Amazonia) and the Northeast macroregions; in the Center-West and the South anthropogenic factors make larger contribution. We have also detected considerable land use/land cover changes caused by agricultural development in densely populated states of the Southeast and the South. In both macroregions planted area expands due to increase of soybeans and sugar cane production, while area of pastures is shrinking. The trends of transformations of agricultural land use revealed as a result of statistical data analysis, match with transitions of land cover categories belonging to the aggregated group of cropping processes. Transformations of land cover types with predominance of shrub vegetation were the most problematic to interpret because of lack of comparable statistical data on pastures.

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The article deals with the study of the land cover change of Indochina based on the MODIS Land Cover database for 2001—2012. Geospatial land cover data, which are objectively recorded land surface characteristics, are widely used for small-scale mapping of landscapes and ecological systems. The case region of Indochina was selected for the analysis of land cover transformation. In recent decades it has been undergoing active transformation of land use, associated with rapid economic development, substantial population growth, and reorientation of the agricultural sector to foreign markets. The processes of land cover change were studied within the boundaries of zonal types of landscapes, altitudinal zonality spectra, and groups of intrazonal landscapes. The density of changes is uneven in different zonal types of landscapes, the greatest range of transformations is characteristic to the deciduous monsoon forests, semi-evergreen forests (in the subequatorial belt), and within river valleys. The main trajectories of land cover change for 2001—2012 are as follows: 1) expansion of arable areas due to the reduction of forests, savannas and grasslands; 2) the likely increase in the area of perennial plantations (mainly rubber trees and oil palm); 3) forest degradation and spread of savannas; 4) fluctuations of land under shifting cultivation. Since the 2000s commercial production of perennial cash crops is the main cause of deforestation in the region. Land clearing for these needs could have a greater impact on forest cover than logging. The revealed features of land cover change for Indochina made it possible to specify the regional characteristics of the transformation processes as compared to global typology of land coverchanges.