Assessment of Historical Land-use Changes for Purposes of Strategic Planning — A Case Study in Laos

Sandewall, Mats; Ohlsson, Bo; Sawathvong, Silavanh

doi:10.1639/0044-7447(2001)030[0055:aohluc]2.0.co;2

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Understanding LULC study requires an understanding of people and their societal situation; their priorities; livelihood strategies; views on the land; and the wider implications of social, political, cultural, biophysical, and institutional factors, among others (Maro 2011). Incorporations of local experiences of key informants in the community provide information on past, present, and expected future land-use changes (Sandewall et al 2001). Therefore, it is necessary to go beyond disciplinary trend studies and examine methods for integrating LULC and social research to get knowledge and the experiences of different stakeholders.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land-use/land-cover (LULC) change and socioeconomic conditions of local community in the central highlands of Ethiopia

Desalegn

Souza

Kindu

et al. 2014

International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ec

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This paper presents a case study of land-use/land-cover (LULC) changes from 1975 to 2014 in the central highlands of Ethiopia and traces out its impact on socioeconomic conditions of the local community in the study area. We used four time series Landsat satellite images, that is, Landsat MSS (1975), Landsat Thematic Mapper (1986), Enhanced Thematic Mapper (2000, and Landsat 8 OLI scenes (2014), to investigate the changes in LULC. In addition, individual interviews with 51 randomly selected households, discussions with focus group and key informants, and field observations were also incorporated for the study. The image classification indicated four categories of LULC classes: Natural forest, eucalyptus plantations, cropland/settlements, and grasslands. Between 1975 and 2014, cropland/settlements and eucalyptus plantations considerably increased, whereas grassland cover drastically decreased. According to the results, the area under cropland/ settlements and eucalyptus plantations increased by 62 and 335%, respectively, with 74% concomitant decrease in the area of grasslands in the same period. Survey results showed that deterioration of soil fertility (41.2%) followed by shortage of land (35.3%) is the major constraint for crop production for poor farmers in the study area. However, better-off farmers ranked deterioration of soil fertility (64.7%) followed by lack of credit (17.6%) as priority constraints for crop production. Interviews mainly focused on selected women group revealed that the expansion of eucalyptus in the area greatly curbed the burdens of collecting fuel woods from long distances in the past. The availability of too many religious holidays (on average 16 days/month) directly or indirectly contributes to the current seasonal food shortages of the community. Generally, our results show that the community in the study area is beset with a host of social, economic, and institutional challenges. As a result, majority of the farming households are destitute, unable to make a livelihood from their small plot of land and live in absolute poverty. Therefore, in light of these finding, it is imperative that timely interventions by government and other development stakeholders are needed to come to grips with problems of soil fertility, land-use change, and food insecurity in the study area.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land-use/land-cover (LULC) change and socioeconomic conditions of local community in the central highlands of Ethiopia

Desalegn

Souza

Kindu

et al. 2014

International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ec

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“…Community perception in this article refers to the knowledge of people living close enough to the land and water to experience the local hydrological regime. Several studies (Evelyn and Camirand 2003;Gautam 2006;Sandewall et al 2001;Sin and Sammani 1987) used community perception to generate historical change and ongoing land resource information, which is different from popular beliefs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest Cover and Stream Flow in a Headwater of the Blue Nile: Complementing Observational Data Analysis with Community Perception

Gebrehiwot¹,

Taye

Bishop³

2010

AMBIO

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This study analyses the relation of forest cover and stream flow on the 266 km2 Koga watershed in a headwater of Blue Nile Basin using both observed hydrological data and community perception. The watershed declined from 16% forest cover in 1957 to 1% by 1986. The hydrological record did not reveal changes in the flow regime between 1960 and 2002 despite the reduction in forest area. This agrees with the perception of the downstream community living near the gauging station. The upstream community, however, reported both decreases in low flows and increases in high flows shortly after the forest cover was reduced. The upstream deforestation effect appeared to have been buffered by a wetland lower in the watershed. This study concludes that community perception can be a complement to observational data for better understanding how forest cover influences the flow regime.

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“…Studies have linked human density to declining ungulate densities as a result of hunting (Woodroffe, 2000), which consequently leads to declines in tiger abundance (Karanth & Stith, 1999;Madhusudan & Karanth, 2002;Karanth et al, 2004). Although Laos' human density remains low, its growth rate is high (3.4%; EIU, 2003) and the rural population is thinly but widely dispersed on the landscape (Sandewall, Ohlsson & Sawathvong, 2001). Overhunting for subsistence and trade is recognized as a major threat to wildlife populations (Duckworth et al, 1999;Nooren & Claridge, 2001;Johnson, Singh & Duongdala, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of human–carnivore conflict on tiger (Panthera tigris) and prey populations in Lao PDR

Johnson

Vongkhamheng

Hedemark

et al. 2006

Animal Conservation

138

107

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Unique to South-east Asia, Lao People's Democratic Republic contains extensive habitat for tigers and their prey within a multiple-use protected area system covering 13% of the country. Although human population density is the lowest in the region, the impact of human occurrence in protected areas on tiger Panthera tigris and prey populations was unknown. We examined the effects of humancarnivore conflict on tiger and prey abundance and distribution in the Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area on the Lao-Vietnam border. We conducted intensive camera-trap sampling of large carnivores and prey at varying levels of human population and monitored carnivore depredation of livestock across the protected area. The relative abundance of large ungulates was low throughout whereas that of small prey was significantly higher where human density was lower. The estimated tiger density for the sample area ranged from 0.2 to 0.7 per 100 km 2 . Tiger abundance was significantly lower where human population and disturbance were greater. Three factors, commercial poaching associated with livestock grazing followed by prey depletion and competition between large carnivores, are likely responsible for tiger abundance and distribution. Maintaining tigers in the country's protected areas will be dependent on the spatial separation of large carnivores and humans by modifying livestock husbandry practices and enforcing zoning.

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Assessment of Historical Land-use Changes for Purposes of Strategic Planning — A Case Study in Laos

Cited by 6 publications

References 5 publications

Land-use/land-cover (LULC) change and socioeconomic conditions of local community in the central highlands of Ethiopia

Land-use/land-cover (LULC) change and socioeconomic conditions of local community in the central highlands of Ethiopia

Forest Cover and Stream Flow in a Headwater of the Blue Nile: Complementing Observational Data Analysis with Community Perception

Effects of human–carnivore conflict on tiger (Panthera tigris) and prey populations in Lao PDR

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