Spatio-Temporal Variation in Mountainous Landscape Changes: A Case Study of Shizhu County

Evaluating the impacts of land use/land cover changes across topography against land surface temperature in Cameron Highlands

The Cameron Highlands has experienced multiple land encroachment activities and repeated deforestation, leading to extensive land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) during the past six decades. This study aims to determine the LULCC against topography in Cameron Highlands between 2009 and 2019 by using geospatial techniques to analyze Landsat 7 (ETM+) and 8 (OLI/TIRS), ASTER GDEM and MODIS imaging sensors. The results showed a decline of 35.98 km² in primary forests over ten years across the Cameron Highlands, while agricultural lands and urban areas flourished by a rise of 51.61 km² and 11.00 km² respectively. It can be noted that the elevation most affected is between 1000 and 1500 m, across all classes. Further results showed the expansion of both agriculture and urban development onto slopes above 35°, leading to an instability of soil structure. In a comparison of the base years of 2009 with 2019, mean LST results have shown temperatures rising by 7.5°C, while an average between 3 and 4°C across the region is recorded. The results obtained provide new information for government bodies and land planners to coordinate their actions without further jeopardizing the environment of the Cameron Highlands.

A Spatiotemporal Assessment of Land Use and Land Cover Changes in Peri-Urban Areas: A Case Study of Arshaly District, Kazakhstan

In this study, the spatiotemporal dynamics of land use and land cover (LULC) were evaluated in the peri-urban area of the Arshaly district, which borders the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Landsat multispectral images were used to study the changes in LULC. The analysis of LULC dynamics was carried out using supervised classification with a multi-temporal interval (1998, 2008, and 2018). During the study period, noticeable changes occurred in LULC. There was an increase in the area of arable land and forests and a reduction in the pastures. There was a sharp increase in the built-up area; that is, there was an intensification of land use through an increase in the share of arable land as well as the transformation of agricultural land for development. However, in general, the influence of urban sprawl in this peri-urban area has so far been accompanied by only a slight focus on its sustainable development.

Economic Globalization Impacts on the Ecological Environment of Inland Developing Countries: A Case Study of Laos from the Perspective of the Land Use/Cover Change

Economic globalization promotes the economic development of underdeveloped regions but also influences the ecological environments of these regions, such as natural forest degradation. For inland developing regions with underdeveloped traffic routes, are the effects on the ecological environment also as obvious? To reveal the response characteristics of the ecological environment of the inland developing countries to globalization, we took Laos as an example, and used the land use/cover change data and also its exports and imports data to analyze the ecological environment change since the millennium. Land use transfer matrix analysis showed that Laos had encountered a large conversion of 14.43% natural forest to plantation forest since 2000 to 2017, and also a degradation of 5.94% natural forest to shrubland and grassland. Landscape pattern analysis showed that these changes were the main reasons of the fragmentation of ecological patches, which would lead to a reduction in biodiversity. More, topographic analysis further showed that natural forest degradation mainly took place in high-altitude and large slope areas, which could increase the potential of natural hazards such as floods. Coupling analysis with its exports and imports data indicated that economic globalization still had a significant impact on the country’s ecological environment although Laos is an inland developing country. Laos should strengthen the regulation of renewable resources such as forests and water resources, to avoid losing the renewable resources market while still enjoying the dividends of economic globalization. At the same time, it is necessary to accurately evaluate the indirect impacts of development on neighboring countries to ensure sustainable development.