Modeling land cover changes in Golestan province using land change modeler (LCM)

In recent decades, land use change due to environmental and human factors has caused serious effects on the environment and the economy in Golestan province. On the other hand, wide rangelands and natural areas have been cultivated without observing ecological and scientific principles or have been exploited for special purposes and changing to other uses, while many of these lands are do not have the potential to become new land uses and they have a high potential for erosion, as a result of which we will see soil erosion, especially in sloping lands and the creation of destroyer floods. Therefore, it is necessary and essential to be aware of the type and manner of use and its possible changes over time, which will be important for planning and policy-making in the country. The aim of this study was to detection the land use changes in Golestan province during the years 1986 to 2019 and to predict the land use status of the region for 2050 using the Land Change Modeling (LCM) approach.

In order to monitor the trend of land use changes in the study area, Landsat 5 and 8 satellites (TM and OLI sensors for 1986, 2001, and 2019) were used. Interpretation and processing of satellite data were performed in ENVI software. The necessary pre-processing was performed on the images. First, the images were mosaic together and then cut according to the province boundary. In order to identify and separate the phenomena from each other, a false color image was created. Then, the supervised classification method with the maximum likelihood method was used. At this stage, five classes, including rangeland, agriculture, forestry, residential, and water areas were defined. Land use maps for 1986, 2001, and 2019 were prepared. Integration of land cover maps related to 1986, 2001, and 2019 was used as input of LCM model and digital elevation model (DEM) maps and road and stream layers to analyze area changes and prediction of land use changes of 2050. After the necessary analyzes in order to detect land use changes between the intended time periods, change maps and land use transfers were prepared. Finally, the amount of decrease and increase in each land use, the amount of net changes, the net change from other land uses to the desired class, areas without change and transfer from each land use to another land in different land cover classes in the form of maps and charts were prepared and analyzed.

The aim of this study was prediction and modeling of land use changes in a period of 33-years in Golestan province. According to the results during this period, the area of ​​the rangelands has decreased a lot, equivalent to 181181.25 hectares. Much of the decline in rangelands is due to its conversion into agricultural, which can be attributed to population growth and the need to expand crop land. The area of ​​forest lands during the mentioned years has decreased from 393018.75 to 349143.75 hectares in 2019, which has shown a decrease of 43875 hectares (2.2%). In general, the destruction of rangeland and forest areas is especially visible in developing countries due to population growth, technological growth and non-compliance with ecological principles and law enforcement. Also, the results of classified maps during the mentioned years show that the highest amount of changes in the region is related to agricultural lands, has increased to 173700 hectares equal to 8.5 % during the same period. The rate of land use changes related to the residential land class has also increased with the increasing trend from 18731.25 hectares in 1986 to 37518.75 hectares in 2019, which has increased by 18787.50 hectares (0.9%) during this period. Rapid growth of population has led to the development of residential and urban areas and the increase in this type of land use with a relatively steep slope, especially in recent years, which can be part of the government's plans for housing construction in the surrounding areas cities. This increase in the class of agricultural lands is more noticeable, especially in the central and eastern regions of the province, and can be a warning alarm for the future. It means that in an imperceptible trend, rangeland and forest lands become rainfed agricultural lands and after a while unprincipled exploitation, eventually become barren and unusable land. On the other hand, this could indicate an increase in population and demand for housing, and consequently securance of the needs of the residents of the region is a threat to rangeland lands which is necessary instead of increasing the agricultural and residential lands and turning rangeland lands into such land uses, the policy of increasing productivity in the agricultural sector should be pursued. About of water areas, it can be said that during this period, it has increased by 1.6% or 3268.75 hectares. This increase in water areas can be partly attributed to heavy rainfall and water intake and even floods in different parts of the province in 2019. Predicting the rate of land use change in 2050 indicates that in the coming years, the area of ​​rangelands and forests will be reduced by 131906.25 and 291600 hectares, respectively, and in contrast to the area of ​​agricultural land and residential areas will increase to 164137.50 and 25313.25 hectares, respectively. Therefore, the adoption of necessary measures and policies to further reduce forest and rangeland will be inevitable.

Understanding of the conditions of different land uses during the coming periods will facilitate planning for the future by creating information in terms of their spatial distribution pattern, but maintaining and creating sustainable conditions for the future both statistically and it is ecologically one of its limitations. These constraints play an important role in the safe use of different land uses in the planning process. Therefore, creating sustainable conditions in the region and modeling it in order to use the natural resources of a region regularly and sustainably is one of the preconditions for achieving upstream visions and documents, including the sustainable development plan.