Abstract
Deforestation and other Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) changes, driven by variety of physical and anthropogenic factors, have altered the mountainous environment. Mountains around the world including northern and north western belts of Pakistan are highly sensitive to deforestation and other LULC changes, which have profound impacts on various sectors of bio-physical and socio-economic systems. Assessment of LULC changes has high significance for protection, conservation and monitoring mountainous environment. The present study is an attempt to assess the landscape changes with particular reference to forest cover depletion in Kurram Agency located in the north western mountain belt of Pakistan. For detailed comparative analysis the study area has been divided into three sections, which coincide with the present administrative divisions of the Agency, i.e., Upper, Lower and Central Kurram. Temporal span of this study covers four decades. In this study, land use map of 1970 and land sat satellite imageries of 1987, 2000 and 2014 were used as spatial data sets. The images were processed and classified into six LULC classes through geospatial packages and change detection maps were prepared for each division and time period. Findings of the study reveal two trends in the four major LULC categories. Forest and rangeland have shrunk, on average, by 15% and 7.5% respectively while, bare soil and rocks outcrops have expanded by 89% and agriculture land by 7.2% in Kurram agency. The water bodies and snow cover have minor fluctuation in its land area. Major causes of shrinking greenery is attributed to high influx of Afghan refugees and high energy demand of growing population. However, with outflow of the refugees from Kurram agency the general trend in forest cover has reverted and deforestation rate has slowed down.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Acevedo MF, Callicott JB, Monticino M, et al. (2008) Models of natural and human dynamics in forest landscapes: cross-site and cross-cultural synthesis. Geoforum 39(2): 846–866. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2006.10.008
Allan NJ (1987) Impact of Afghan refugees on the vegetation resources of Pakistan's Hindukush-Himalaya. Mountain Research and Development 200-204.https://doi.org/10.2307/3673193
Baskent EZ, Kadiogullari AL (2007) Spatial and temporal dynamics of land use pattern in Turkey: a case study in Inegöl. Landscape and Urban Planning 81: 316–327. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2007.01.007
Brinkmann K, Noromiarilanto F, Ratovonamana RY, Buerkert A (2014) Deforestation processes in south-western Madagascar over the past 40 years: what can we learn from settlement characteristics? Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 195: 231–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2014.06.008
Bukhari SS, Haider A, Laeeq MT (2012) Land Cover Atlas of Pakistan: Pakistan Forest Institute Peshawar.
Chen L, Wang J, Fu B, Qiu Y (2001) Land-use change in a small catchment of northern Loess Plateau, China. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 86(2): 163–172. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8809(00)00271-1
Chettri N, Sharma E, Deb DC (2002) Impact of firewood extraction on tree structure, regeneration and wood biomass productivity in trekking corridor of the Sikkim Himalaya. Mountain Research and Development 22(2): 150–158. https://doi.org/10.1659/0276-4741(2002)022[0150:IOFEOT ]2.0.CO;2
Crews-Meyer KA (2004) Agricultural landscape change and stability in northeast Thailand: historical patch-level analysis. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 101(2): 155–169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2003.09.024
Dewan AM, Yamaguchi Y (2009) Land use and land cover change in greater Dhaka, Bangladesh: using remote sensing to promote sustainable urbanization. Applied Geography 29(3): 390–401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2008.12.005
Dongol CM, Hughey KF, Bigsby HR (2002) Capital formation and sustainable community forestry in Nepal. Mountain Research and Development 22(1): 70–77. https://doi.org/10.1659/0276-4741(2002)022[0070:CFASCF]2.0.CO;2
Ehiagbanare J (2007) Economic contributions of the forest to the economy of Edo State, Nigeria. African Journal of Agricultural Research 2(11): 583–586.
FAO (2007) Brief on national forest inventory Pakistan. Strengthening Monitoring, Assessment and Reporting (MAR) on Sustainable Forest Management (SFM). (Working Paper 25/2007 ed.). Rome.
FAO (2010a) Global forest resources assessment Main report. Food and agriculture organization of the united nations. Rome, Italy.
FAO (2010b) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010: Country Report Pakistan. Forestry Department Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome.
Gautam AP, Shivakoti GP, Webb EL (2004) Forest cover change, physiography, local economy and institutions in a mountain watershed in Nepal. Environmental Management 33(1): 48–61. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-003-0031-4
Geist HJ, Lambin EF (2001) What Drives Tropical Deforestation? A meta-analysis of proximate and underlying causes of deforestation based on subnational case study evidence. LUCC International Project Office, University of Louvain,Department of Geography, Belgium.
Goldewijk KK, Ramankutty N (2004) Land cover change over the last three centuries due to human activities: the availability of new global data sets. GeoJournal 61(4): 335–344. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-004-5050-z
Gong P, Pu R, Biging GS, Larrieu MR (2003) Estimation of forest leaf area index using vegetation indices derived from hyperion hyperspectral data. Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on 41(6): 1355–1362.
GoP (Government of Pakistan) (2014) Temperature and precipitation data. Pakistan Meteorological Office Parachinar.
GoP (2000) Census Report of Kurram Agency: Population Census Organization Statistics Division Govrnment of Pakistan Islamabad.
Houghton RA (1994) The worldwide extent of land-use change. BioScience 44: 305–313. https://doi.org/10.2307/1312380
ICSU (1992) Land use and land cover change. Ambio 21(1): 122–122.
IPCC (2007) Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, Working Group II contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Keuchel J, Naumann S, Heiler M, Siegmund A (2003) Automatic land cover analysis for Tenerife by supervised classification using remotely sensed data. Remote Sensing of Environment 86(4):530–541. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(03)00130-5
Khan H, Shah KM, Gorsi NA (2005) Poverty alleviation through community based natural resource management in Azad Kashmir. Journal of Rural Development & Administration XXXVI(4): 93–103.
Lambin EF, Geist H (Eds.) (2006) Land-Use and Land-Cover Change: Local Processes and Global Impacts. Germany.
Lambin EF, Turner BL, Geist HJ, et al. (2001) The causes of land-use and land-cover change: moving beyond the myths. Global Environmental Change 11: 261–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0959-3780(01)00007-3
Lepers E, Lambin EF, Janetos AC, DeFries R, Achard F, Ramankutty N, Scholes RJ (2005) A synthesis of information on rapid land-cover change for the period 1981–2000. BioScience 55(2): 115–124. https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2005)055[0115:ASOIOR]2.0.CO;2
Liu D, Cai S (2012) A spatial-temporal modeling approach to reconstructing land cover change trajectories from multitemporal atellite imagery. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 102(6): 1329–1347. https://doi.org/10. 1080/00045608.2011.596357
Murthy M, Wesselman S, Gilani H (Eds.) (2015) Multi-Scale Forest Biomass Assessment and Monitoring in the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region: A Geospatial Perspective. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal.
Nüsser M (2000) Change and persistence: contemporary landscape transformation in the Nanga Parbat region, northern Pakistan. Mountain Research and Development 20(4): 348–355. https://doi.org/10.1659/0276-4741(2000) 020[0348:CAPCLT]2.0.CO;2
Ojima DS, Galvin K A, Turner BL (1994) The global impact of land-use change. BioScience 44: 300–304. https://doi.org/10.2307/1312379
Pan D, Domon G, Blois S, Bouchard A (1999) Temporal (1958–1993) and spatial patterns of land use changes in Haut-Saint-Laurent (Quebec, Canada) and their relation to landscape physical attributes. Landscape Ecology 14(1): 35–52. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008022028804
Qamer F, Abbas S, Saleem R, et al. (2012) Forest cover change assessment in conflict-affected areas of northwest Pakistan: the case of swat and shangla districts. Journal of Mountain Science 9(3): 297–306. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-009-2319-1
Qasim M, Hubacek K, Termansen M, Khan A (2011) Spatial and temporal dynamics of land use pattern in District Swat, Hindu Kush Himalayan region of Pakistan. Applied Geography 31(2): 820–828. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j. apgeog.2010.08.008
Rahman F, Haq F, Tabassum I, Ullah I (2014) Socio-economic drivers of deforestation in Roghani Valley, Hindu-Raj mountains, northern Pakistan. Journal of Mountain Science 11(1): 167–179. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-013-2770-x
Ramankutty N, Foley JA (1999) Estimating historical changes in global land cover: croplands from 1700 to 1992. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 13(4): 997–1027. https://doi.org/10.1029/1999GB900046
Rogan J, Franklin J, Roberts DA (2002) A comparison of methods for monitoring multitemporal vegetation change using Thematic Mapper imagery. Remote Sensing of Environment 80(1): 143–156. ttps://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(01)00296-6
Rozenstein O, Karnieli A (2011) Comparison of methods for land-use classification incorporating remote sensing and GIS inputs. Applied Geography 31(2): 533–544. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2010.11.006
Serneels S, Lambin EF (2001) Proximate causes of land-use change in Narok District, Kenya: a spatial statistical model. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 85(1): 65–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8809(01)00188-8
Shehzad K, Qamer F, Murthy MS, et al. (2014) Deforestation trends and spatial modelling of its drivers in the dry temperate forests of northern Pakistan: A case study of Chitral. Journal of Mountain Science 11(5): 1192–1207. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-013-2932-x
Siddiqui KM (1997) Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working paper series. Forestry Policy and Planning Division, Rome Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok.
Teepn M, Khan (2008) The Tribal Area of Pakistan: A Contemporary Profile. Lahor Pakistan: Sang-e-Meel Publications.
Tole L (1998) Sources of deforestation in tropical developing countries. Environmental Management 22(1): 19–33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002679900081
Tudun-Wada MI, Tukur YM, Ya’u H, et al. (2014) Analysis of forest cover changes in Nimbia forest reserve, Kaduna State, Nigeria using Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing techniques. Journal of Environment and Earth Science 4(21): 73–83.
Weinbaum MG (Ed.) (1993) "The Impact and the Legacy of the Afghan Refugees in Pakistan", In Contemporary Problems of Pakistan. Westview Press, USA: Pak Book Corp, Pakistan.
Zarin DJ (2012) Carbon from tropical deforestation. Science 336:15–18.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hussain, K., Haq, F. & Rahman, F. Shrinking greenery: Land use and land cover changes in Kurram Agency, Kohi Safid Mountains of north-western Pakistan. J. Mt. Sci. 15, 296–306 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-017-4451-7
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-017-4451-7