Application of land-use/land cover changes in monitoring and projecting forest biomass carbon loss in Pakistan

Mannan, Abdul; Liu, J.; Zhong-ke, Feng; Khan, Tauheed Ullah; Beckline, Mukete; Shen, Chaoyong; Yi, Fan; Ahmad, Adnan; Amir, Muhammad; Ahmad, Shafiq; Shah, Syed Tahir

doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00535

Cited by 53 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Similarly, a study on Simly watershed was conducted by Butt et al (2015) and found an increase of settlement and a decrease of vegetation. Mannan et al (2019) have found increase of agriculture and built-up area and decrease of forest area at the foothill of the Himalayas Mountains of Pakistan. Iqbal and Khan (2014) conducted their research at the sub-division of Azad Jammu and Kashmir to investigate the spatio-temporal land use/land cover change between 1998 and 2009 and found a decrease of forest and bare vegetation area and increase of settlement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the impacts of land use/land cover change on the water balance in the afforested River Basin, Pakistan

2020

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Land use and land cover (LULC) change is one of the key driving elements responsible for altering the hydrology of a watershed. In this study, we investigated the spatio-temporal LULC changes between 2001 and 2018 and their impacts on the water balance of the Jhelum River Basin. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to analyze the impacts on water yield (WY) and evapotranspiration (ET). The model was calibrated and validated with discharge data between 1995 and 2005 and then simulated with different land use. The increase was observed in forest, settlement and water areas during the study period. At the catchment scale, we found that afforestation has reduced the WY and surface runoff, while enhanced the ET. Moreover, this change was more pronounced at the sub-basin scale. Some sub-basins, especially in the northern part of the study area, exhibited an increase in WY due to an increase in the snow cover area. Similarly, extremes land use scenarios also showed significant impact on water balance components. The basin WY has decreased by 38 mm/year and ET has increased about 36 mm/year. The findings of this study could guide the watershed manager in the development of sustainable LULC planning and water resources management.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the impacts of land use/land cover change on the water balance in the afforested River Basin, Pakistan

2020

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“…LULCC can impact a variety of factors including climate, precipitation, vegetation cover, land surface temperature and community structure and composition [12][13][14][15]. Terrestrial landscapes are increasingly subject to human alteration and associated LULCC changes, which has proven lethal to global biodiversity [3,[16][17][18][19][20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of GIS and Remote Sensing Data to Understand the Impacts of Land Use/Land Cover Changes (LULCC) on Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia) Habitat in Pakistan

et al. 2021

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Habitat degradation and species range contraction due to land use/land cover changes (LULCC) is a major threat to global biodiversity. The ever-growing human population has trespassed deep into the natural habitat of many species via the expansion of agricultural lands and infrastructural development. Carnivore species are particularly at risk, as they demand conserved and well-connected habitat with minimum to no anthropogenic disturbance. In Pakistan, the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is found in three mountain ranges—the Himalayas, Hindukush, and Karakoram. Despite this being one of the harshest environments on the planet, a large population of humans reside here and exploit surrounding natural resources to meet their needs. Keeping in view this exponentially growing population and its potential impacts on at-risk species like the snow leopard, we used geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing with the aim of identifying and quantifying LULCC across snow leopard range in Pakistan for the years 2000, 2010, and 2020. A massive expansion of 1804.13 km2 (163%) was observed in the built-up area during the study period. Similarly, an increase of 3177.74 km2 (153%) was observed in agricultural land. Barren mountain land increased by 12,368.39 km2 (28%) while forest land decreased by 2478.43 km2 (28%) and area with snow cover decreased by 14,799.83 km2 (52%). Drivers of these large-scale changes are likely the expanding human population and climate change. The overall quality and quantity of snow leopard habitat in Pakistan has drastically changed in the last 20 years and could be compromised. Swift and direct conservation actions to monitor LULCC are recommended to reduce any associated negative impacts on species preservation efforts. In the future, a series of extensive field surveys and studies should be carried out to monitor key drivers of LULCC across the observed area.

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“…Hence, a developing country like Pakistan also needs to make a strategy for regularly assessing their vegetation biomass potential at a national level or at least in smaller spatial units. Very few studies have been reported based on ground sample plots for estimating forest biomass/carbon stock across Pakistan (Ahmad et al 2018a;Ahmad et al 2018b;Ahmad et al 2014;Ahmad and Nizami 2015;Amir et al ;Mannan et al 2019;Uddin et al 2019). However, in the case of ground sample inventories, the accuracy can be limited to the sample plots, and cannot cover spatial variation of large geographical forest area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Airborne Laser Scanning (3D) with Sentinel-2 (2D) for Estimating Above Ground Biomass/Carbon Stock in a Subtropical Chir Pine Forest of Balakot, Pakistan

Ullah

Saeed²,

Shafique

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Forest ecosystems act as a sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the form of biomass, and plays one of the crucial role for carbon sequestration and in regulating the global carbon cycle. Few studies based on ground sample plots were conducted for estimating forest biomass/carbon stock across Pakistan. This study comparing the first time the potential of three dimensional (3D) airborne laser scanning (ALS) with two dimensional (2D) Sentinel-2 to estimate above-ground biomass/carbon stock (AGB/C) in a Subtropical Chir Pine forest of Balakot, Pakistan. We derived height and density metrics from the ALS canopy height model (CHM), and different metrics from Sentinel-2 images, and were regressed with field measured AGB/C at sample plots locations. We found R2 = 0.86 with RMSE% = 25.70, and R2 = 0.62 with RMSE% = 43.92 for ALS and for Sentinel-2 respectively with ground measured AGB/C at sample plots locations. Our study demonstrated that 3D ALS technology has greater potential and is the most accurate option as compared to 2D Sentinel-2 for regular planning and monitoring of AGB/C in the context of the national forest inventory of Pakistan. Our study will be useful for the accomplishment of the REDD+ in measuring, reporting, and verification of forest resources, and future sustainable utilization of forest, safeguarding the livelihoods of forest-dependent people, and reducing pressure on forest ecosystems.

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Application of land-use/land cover changes in monitoring and projecting forest biomass carbon loss in Pakistan

Cited by 53 publications

References 39 publications

Quantifying the impacts of land use/land cover change on the water balance in the afforested River Basin, Pakistan

Quantifying the impacts of land use/land cover change on the water balance in the afforested River Basin, Pakistan

Use of GIS and Remote Sensing Data to Understand the Impacts of Land Use/Land Cover Changes (LULCC) on Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia) Habitat in Pakistan

Comparison of Airborne Laser Scanning (3D) with Sentinel-2 (2D) for Estimating Above Ground Biomass/Carbon Stock in a Subtropical Chir Pine Forest of Balakot, Pakistan

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