Land Use and Land Cover Change Assessment from 1995 to 2015 using GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques: A Case Study in a Logging Concession

Abstract

Land use and land cover mapping techniques are used in most GIS and Remote Sensing applications to understand land use patterns and changes, and to assess the quality of the environment. Classification is defined as ordering and arrangement of observed features into bio-physical properties of the earth’s surface. Supervised classification is the main technique applied for data extraction in an imagery to get activity data or land use and land cover information. In this study, the key activities carried out to fulfill the classification was post- classification and accuracy assessment to get the relevant land use and land cover maps ready for calculating areas in hectares per forest type, which excluded non-forest types. It is observed that land use and land cover changes mainly due to selective logging activities, which can be investigated through the time series remote sensing satellite imagery by evaluating the difference between mapped time X activities and mapped time Y activities. Hence, a forest area that existed in year 1995 is logged in the recent year. The ultimate goal of this study is to understand the changing pattern of above ground living biomass in term of vegetation cover from 1995 to 2015. Highest forest degradation occurred in year 2000 compared to the year 1995, where there was no selective logging on the interpreted satellite imagery. The results of this research indicate the rate of degradation for the period 1995-2015 is 6.45%. Based on data availability, this kind of study may be replicated throughout Papua New Guinea.