IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v11y2022i7p1061-d861281.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessment of Forest Cover Changes in Vavuniya District, Sri Lanka: Implications for the Establishment of Subnational Forest Reference Emission Level

Author

Listed:
  • Sharaniya Vijitharan

    (Natural Resources Management, School of Environment, Resources, and Management, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand
    Department of Bio-Science, Faculty of Applied Science, University of Vavuniya, Vavuniya 43000, Sri Lanka)

  • Nophea Sasaki

    (Natural Resources Management, School of Environment, Resources, and Management, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand)

  • Manjunatha Venkatappa

    (Natural Resources Management, School of Environment, Resources, and Management, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand
    LEET Intelligence Co., Ltd., Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand)

  • Nitin Kumar Tripathi

    (School of Engineering and Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand)

  • Issei Abe

    (Faculty of Career Development, Kyoto Koka Women’s University, 38 Kadono-cho, Nishikyogoku, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto 615-0882, Japan)

  • Takuji W. Tsusaka

    (Natural Resources Management, School of Environment, Resources, and Management, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand)

Abstract

Assessment of forest cover changes is required to establish the forest reference emission level (FREL) at any scale. Due to civil conflict, such assessments have not yet been undertaken in Sri Lanka, especially in the conflict zone. Here, we assessed the forest cover changes in Vavuniya District, Sri Lanka, from 2001 to 2020, using a combination of the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform and the phenology-based threshold classification (PBTC) method. Landsat 5 TM data for 2001, 2006, and 2010, and Landsat 8 OLI data for 2016 and 2020 were used to classify forest cover by categories, and their related changes could be assessed by four categories, namely dry monsoon forest, open forest, other lands, and water bodies. With an overall average accuracy of 87% and an average kappa coefficient of 0.83, forest cover was estimated at 57.6% of the total land area in 2020. There was an increase of 0.46% per annum for the entire district between 2001 and 2010, but a drastic loss of 0.60% per year was observed between 2010 and 2020. Specifically, the dry monsoon forest lost 0.30%, but open forest gained 3.62% annually over the same period. Loss and gain of forest cover resulted in carbon emissions and removals of 165,306.6 MgCO 2 and 24,064.5 MgCO 2 annually, respectively, over the same period. Our findings could be used to set the baseline trend of deforestation, based on which, a subnational forest reference emission level can be established as an emission benchmark, against which comparisons of carbon emissions following the implementation of REDD+ activities can be made, and result-based payment can be claimed under the Paris Agreement.

Suggested Citation

  • Sharaniya Vijitharan & Nophea Sasaki & Manjunatha Venkatappa & Nitin Kumar Tripathi & Issei Abe & Takuji W. Tsusaka, 2022. "Assessment of Forest Cover Changes in Vavuniya District, Sri Lanka: Implications for the Establishment of Subnational Forest Reference Emission Level," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-25, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:7:p:1061-:d:861281
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/7/1061/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/7/1061/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alistair W. R. Seddon & Marc Macias-Fauria & Peter R. Long & David Benz & Kathy J. Willis, 2016. "Sensitivity of global terrestrial ecosystems to climate variability," Nature, Nature, vol. 531(7593), pages 229-232, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Feng Xu & Guangqing Chi & Yongheng Rao & Jianjun Zhang, 2022. "Editorial for Special Issue “Land Use Change and Anthropogenic Disturbances: Relationships, Interactions, and Management”," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-6, September.

    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. Mengmeng Gao & Nan Yang & Qiong Liu, 2024. "What Drives Vegetation Evolution in the Middle Reaches of the Yellow River Basin, Climate Change or Human Activities?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-21, November.
    2. Shulin Chen & Zhenghao Zhu & Xiaotong Liu & Li Yang, 2022. "Variation in Vegetation and Its Driving Force in the Pearl River Delta Region of China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-15, August.
    3. Yuhao Jin & Han Zhang & Yuchao Yan & Peitong Cong, 2020. "A Semi-Parametric Geographically Weighted Regression Approach to Exploring Driving Factors of Fractional Vegetation Cover: A Case Study of Guangdong," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-19, September.
    4. Cecilia Parracciani & Robert Buitenwerf & Jens-Christian Svenning, 2023. "Impacts of Climate Change on Vegetation in Kenya: Future Projections and Implications for Protected Areas," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-20, November.
    5. Hasibuan, Abdul Muis & Gregg, Daniel & Stringer, Randy, 2020. "Accounting for diverse risk attitudes in measures of risk perceptions: A case study of climate change risk for small-scale citrus farmers in Indonesia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    6. Meng Wang & Zhengfeng An, 2022. "Regional and Phased Vegetation Responses to Climate Change Are Different in Southwest China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-21, July.
    7. Luca Rindi & Jianyu He & Mara Miculan & Matteo Dell’Acqua & Mario Enrico Pè & Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi, 2025. "Legacies of temperature fluctuations promote stability in marine biofilm communities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-13, December.
    8. Kexin Zhang & Jiajia Luo & Jiaoting Peng & Hongchang Zhang & Yan Ji & Hong Wang, 2022. "Analysis of Extreme Temperature Variations on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in Southwestern China over the Past 60 Years," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-17, July.
    9. Tengfei Yuan & Shaojian Huang & Peng Zhang & Zhengcheng Song & Jun Ge & Xin Miao & Yujuan Wang & Qiaotong Pang & Dong Peng & Peipei Wu & Junjiong Shao & Peipei Zhang & Yabo Wang & Hongyan Guo & Weidon, 2024. "Potential decoupling of CO2 and Hg uptake process by global vegetation in the 21st century," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Yue Pan & Jian Gong & Jingye Li, 2022. "Assessment of Remote Sensing Ecological Quality by Introducing Water and Air Quality Indicators: A Case Study of Wuhan, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-22, December.
    11. Lin Jin & Zhijie Zhang, 2024. "Assessing Environmental Sustainability in the Transnational Basin of the Tumen River Based on Remote Sensing Data and a Geographical Detector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-17, September.
    12. Xi Liu & Guoming Du & Xiaodie Zhang & Xing Li & Shining Lv & Yinghao He, 2024. "Vegetation Dynamics and Driving Mechanisms Considering Time-Lag and Accumulation Effects: A Case Study of Hubao–Egyu Urban Agglomeration," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-17, August.
    13. Yue, Ping & Zhang, Qiang & Ren, Xueyuan & Yang, Zesu & Li, Hongyu & Yang, Yang, 2022. "Environmental and biophysical effects of evapotranspiration in semiarid grassland and maize cropland ecosystems over the summer monsoon transition zone of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    14. Haochen Yu & Zhengfu Bian & Shouguo Mu & Junfang Yuan & Fu Chen, 2020. "Effects of Climate Change on Land Cover Change and Vegetation Dynamics in Xinjiang, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-25, July.
    15. Yixian Xiao & Li He & Xin Chen & Zhengwei He & Yangqi Lai & Fang Luo & Yuxin Cen & Dan Li & Run Jin, 2024. "Impacts of Large Hydropower Projects on the Ecological Environment of Watersheds: A Case Study of Ertan Reservoir Area," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-23, October.
    16. Wanlu Liu & Lulu Liu & Jiangbo Gao, 2020. "Adapting to climate change: gaps and strategies for Central Asia," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 25(8), pages 1439-1459, December.
    17. Weiliang Wang & Xinran Li & Haijing Lv & Yu Tian, 2023. "What Are the Correlations between Human Disturbance, the Spatial Pattern of the Urban Landscape, and Eco-Environmental Quality?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-24, January.
    18. Bimal Kumar Dora & Sunil Bhat & Arghya Mitra & Damien Ernst & Adrian Halinka & Daria Zychma & Pawel Sowa, 2025. "The Global Electricity Grid: A Comprehensive Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-39, February.
    19. Huizhao Yang & Sailesh Ranjitkar & Wenxuan Xu & Lei Han & Jianbo Yang & Liqing Wu & Jianchu Xu, 2021. "Crop-climate model in support of adjusting local ecological calendar in the Taxkorgan, eastern Pamir Plateau," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 1-19, August.
    20. Murthy, Karthik K, 2024. "A trait-based approach to integrate resilience frameworks," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 493(C).

    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:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:7:p:1061-:d:861281. 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.