Modeling land use/cover change with an emphasis on artificial land growth using a combination of CA-Markov model and multi-criteria decision analysis based on GIS (Case study: Aras River watershed)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Ferdowsi University, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

In recent years, the global population growth and urban expansion have led to significant changes in land use and land cover. This process has numerous detrimental consequences, such as increasing surface temperature, deforestation, desertification, degradation of ecosystem services, biodiversity loss, and threats to food security. Therefore, monitoring and modeling these changes are essential to enable optimal land management and sustainable utilization of natural resources. Considering that the Aras River Basin has undergone significant transformations over time, particularly in terms of human-made land developments, the focus of this research is on modeling land use/land cover changes in this area. Initially, land use maps for the region were extracted for the years 2000 and 2020 from the Globeland30 project of the China National Geomatics Center. Subsequently, two maps were prepared to illustrate the potential growth of human-made land based on the scenario of land development. This was achieved using advanced decision-making analysis methods based on GIS, including BWM (Best-Worst Method) and MEREC (Multi-objective Evaluation of the Regional Ecosystem Carrying Capacity). Finally, these two maps, along with the land use maps, were combined to form the input for the CA-Markov model. The modeling process was carried out once using the BWM + CA-Markov combination, and again using the CA-Markov + MEREC combination for the year 2040. The examination of the results demonstrated that in the output of the combined BWM + CA-Markov model, the extent of human-made land increased from 603 square kilometers in 2020 to over 930 square kilometers in 2040. Meanwhile, this figure was approximately 829 square kilometers in the output of the MEREC + CA-Markov model. Furthermore, the final results obtained from the intersection of these combined models also indicated an increase in the extent of this land from 603 square kilometers in 2020 to 930 square kilometers in 2040. The continuous growth of human-made land in this basin can lead to the destruction of environmental resources and ecosystem threats. The findings of this study provide relevant managers with valuable insights for optimal management of future conditions and the provision of necessary infrastructure.

Keywords

Iranian Journal of Remote Sensing & GIS

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 08 January 2024

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