IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i8p6957-d1128587.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Land Use/Cover Change, Fragmentation, and Driving Factors in Nepal in the Last 25 Years

Author

Listed:
  • Chunying Ning

    (Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters (CIC-FEMD)/Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Carbon Source and Sink, China Meteorological Administration (ECSS-CMA), Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 211544, China)

  • Rajan Subedi

    (Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters (CIC-FEMD)/Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Carbon Source and Sink, China Meteorological Administration (ECSS-CMA), Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 211544, China
    Institute of Forestry, Tribhuvan University, Pokhara Campus, Pokhara 33700, Nepal)

  • Lu Hao

    (Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters (CIC-FEMD)/Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Carbon Source and Sink, China Meteorological Administration (ECSS-CMA), Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 211544, China)

Abstract

Because of the influence of climate change and human activities, an in-depth analysis of land use/cover change (LUCC) and its drivers in Nepal is important for local community forestry management and sustainable development. This paper analyzed the direction, magnitude, and rate of LUCCs and their spatial aggregation, as well as landscape fragmentation in Nepal, from 1995 to 2020 using the ESA/CCI (European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative) dataset. A total of 10 factors including population, socioeconomic development, climate factors, and forest management factors were selected to determine the dominant driving factors affecting LUCC in Nepal by Principal component analysis (PCA) and linear regression analysis. Our study showed that climate change, human activities, and forest management (e.g., community forestry) all influenced LUCC. In Nepal, land use/cover shifted among forest, shrub, grassland, and cropland from 1995 to 2020, mainly from forest to cropland. The most significant LUCC in recent decades has been caused by the expansion of cropland and urbanization. The area of coniferous and broadleaf forests decreased from 1995 to 2001 due to deforestation and forest degradation, and recovered gradually after 2001, which was attributed to the successful practice of community forestry in Nepal. Accelerated urbanization was also found in Nepal, and the significant expansion of construction land came mainly came from cropland. Land fragmentation in Nepal was severe and exhibited spatial aggregation characteristics. Human activities played a greater role in LUCC in Nepal than climate factors. The community forestry, GDP growth, and precipitation were positive driving factors for increases in forest area, while the development of the services sector and rising temperature were negative driving factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Chunying Ning & Rajan Subedi & Lu Hao, 2023. "Land Use/Cover Change, Fragmentation, and Driving Factors in Nepal in the Last 25 Years," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-19, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:8:p:6957-:d:1128587
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/8/6957/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/8/6957/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Krishna Raj Tiwari & Bishal Kumar Sitaula & Roshan Man Bajracharya & Nani Raut & Prabin Bhusal & Mukunda Sengel, 2020. "Vulnerability of Pastoralism: A Case Study from the High Mountainsof Nepal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-15, March.
    2. Sushma Bhattarai & Basant Pant & Hari Krishna Laudari & Rajesh Kumar Rai & Sharif A. Mukul, 2021. "Strategic Pathways to Scale up Forest and Landscape Restoration: Insights from Nepal’s Tarai," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-16, May.
    3. Keshav Bhattarai & Mahmoud Yousef & Alice Greife & S. C. Sravanthi Naraharisetti, 2020. "Influence of Topography on Sustainable Land Management: An Analysis of Socioeconomic and Ecodemographic Conditions of Nepal," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-37, June.
    4. Pokharel, Ridish K., 2012. "Factors influencing the management regime of Nepal's community forestry," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 13-17.
    5. Ge Shi & Nan Jiang & Lianqiu Yao, 2018. "Land Use and Cover Change during the Rapid Economic Growth Period from 1990 to 2010: A Case Study of Shanghai," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-15, February.
    6. Sonam Wangyel Wang & Belay Manjur Gebru & Munkhnasan Lamchin & Rijan Bhakta Kayastha & Woo-Kyun Lee, 2020. "Land Use and Land Cover Change Detection and Prediction in the Kathmandu District of Nepal Using Remote Sensing and GIS," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, May.
    7. Kabir Uddin & Mir Abdul Matin & Sajana Maharjan, 2018. "Assessment of Land Cover Change and Its Impact on Changes in Soil Erosion Risk in Nepal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-20, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yunfeng Hu & Batu Nacun, 2018. "An Analysis of Land-Use Change and Grassland Degradation from a Policy Perspective in Inner Mongolia, China, 1990–2015," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-22, November.
    2. Maraseni, Tek & Poudyal, Bishnu Hari & Aryal, Kishor & Laudari, Hari Krishna, 2022. "Impact of COVID-19 in the forestry sector: A case of lowland region of Nepal," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    3. Pietro De Marinis & Paolo Stefano Ferrario & Guido Sali & Giulio Senes, 2022. "The Rapid and Participatory Assessment of Land Suitability in Development Cooperation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-24, October.
    4. Ahammad, Ronju & Hossain, Mohammed Kamal & Sobhan, Istiak & Hasan, Rakibul & Biswas, Shekhar R. & Mukul, Sharif A., 2023. "Social-ecological and institutional factors affecting forest and landscape restoration in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    5. Prakash Singh Thapa & Basanta Raj Adhikari & Rajib Shaw & Diwakar Bhattarai & Seiji Yanai, 2023. "Geomorphological analysis and early warning systems for landslide risk mitigation in Nepalese mid-hills," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 117(2), pages 1793-1812, June.
    6. Cláudia M. Viana & Jorge Rocha, 2020. "Evaluating Dominant Land Use/Land Cover Changes and Predicting Future Scenario in a Rural Region Using a Memoryless Stochastic Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-28, May.
    7. Yanzhuo Liu & Shanshan Song & Chunjuan Bi & Junli Zhao & Di Xi & Ziqi Su, 2019. "Occurrence, Distribution and Risk Assessment of Mercury in Multimedia of Soil-Dust-Plants in Shanghai, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-19, August.
    8. Roestamy, Martin & Martin, Abraham Yazdi & Rusli, Radif Khotamir & Fulazzaky, Mohamad Ali, 2022. "A review of the reliability of land bank institution in Indonesia for effective land management of public interest," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    9. Lund, Jens Friis & Baral, Keshab & Bhandari, Nirmala Singh & Chhetri, Bir Bahadur Khanal & Larsen, Helle Overgaard & Nielsen, Øystein Juul & Puri, Lila & Rutt, Rebecca Leigh & Treue, Thorsten, 2014. "Who benefits from taxation of forest products in Nepal's community forests?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 119-125.
    10. Bhaskar Shrestha & Qinghua Ye & Nitesh Khadka, 2019. "Assessment of Ecosystem Services Value Based on Land Use and Land Cover Changes in the Transboundary Karnali River Basin, Central Himalayas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-19, June.
    11. Clare, Stephen M. & Ruiz-Jaen, Maria C. & Hickey, Gordon M., 2019. "Assessing the potential of community-based forestry programs in Panama," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 81-92.
    12. Sujarwo & Aditya Nugraha Putra & Raden Arief Setyawan & Heitor Mancini Teixeira & Uma Khumairoh, 2022. "Forecasting Rice Status for a Food Crisis Early Warning System Based on Satellite Imagery and Cellular Automata in Malang, Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-14, July.
    13. Laudari, Hari Krishna & Aryal, Kishor & Maraseni, Tek & Pariyar, Shiva & Pant, Basant & Bhattarai, Sushma & Kaini, Tika Raj & Karki, Gyanendra & Marahattha, Anisha, 2022. "Sixty-five years of forest restoration in Nepal: Lessons learned and way forward," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    14. Toft, Maja Nastasia Juul & Adeyeye, Yemi & Lund, Jens Friis, 2015. "The use and usefulness of inventory-based management planning to forest management: Evidence from community forestry in Nepal," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 35-49.
    15. Xiuyan Zhao & Changhong Miao, 2022. "Spatial-Temporal Changes and Simulation of Land Use in Metropolitan Areas: A Case of the Zhengzhou Metropolitan Area, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-27, October.
    16. Bo Wen & Yunhua Pan & Yanyuan Zhang & Jingjie Liu & Min Xia, 2018. "Does the Exhaustion of Resources Drive Land Use Changes? Evidence from the Influence of Coal Resources-Exhaustion on Coal Resources–Based Industry Land Use Changes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-13, August.
    17. Tanja Srejić & Sanja Manojlović & Mikica Sibinović & Branislav Bajat & Ivan Novković & Marko V. Milošević & Ivana Carević & Mirjana Todosijević & Marko G. Sedlak, 2023. "Agricultural Land Use Changes as a Driving Force of Soil Erosion in the Velika Morava River Basin, Serbia," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-27, March.
    18. Anna Roccati & Fabio Luino & Laura Turconi & Pietro Piana & Charles Watkins & Francesco Faccini, 2018. "Historical Geomorphological Research of a Ligurian Coastal Floodplain (Italy) and Its Value for Management of Flood Risk and Environmental Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-24, October.
    19. Cheechouyang Faichia & Zhijun Tong & Jiquan Zhang & Xingpeng Liu & Emmanuel Kazuva & Kashif Ullah & Bazel Al-Shaibah, 2020. "Using RS Data-Based CA–Markov Model for Dynamic Simulation of Historical and Future LUCC in Vientiane, Laos," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-20, October.
    20. Zaheer Abbas & Guang Yang & Yuanjun Zhong & Yaolong Zhao, 2021. "Spatiotemporal Change Analysis and Future Scenario of LULC Using the CA-ANN Approach: A Case Study of the Greater Bay Area, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-26, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:8:p:6957-:d:1128587. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.