A Regional Land Use Assessment with Collect Earth: Case Studies of Agdash and Gakh, Azerbaijan

Year 2024, Volume: 10 Issue: 3, 14 - 29, 28.12.2024

Çağlar Başsüllü

https://doi.org/10.58626/menba.1464894

Abstract

Periodic land use and land use change assessments monitor the total extent and changes in all land use categories and sub-categories over time to generate highly accurate activity data for effective land use planning and management. Collect Earth is a free access software to monitor the land-use trends in land-use categories over time. The study reports forest and other land-use extent estimates in Azerbaijan’s Agdash and Gakh regions, analyzing 2,543 0.5-hectare sample plots using visual interpretation of very high spatial and temporal resolution satellite imagery on the Google Earth platform. Forestlands in Agdash were assessed to be approximately 7,037 ha or 6.9% of the total region area and have declined by 1.3% since 2000. In contrast, grasslands have grown approximately by 2.07%. Tree cover only exists in 20.9% of Agdash, totaling 21,296 ha. More than 67% of tree cover exists in other land-use categories. The study succeeded in identifying disturbances like flooding, fire, logging, and grazing, and found evidence of river erosion types, rainfall surface runoff, and landslides in Agdash. Gakh forests were assessed to be approximately 41,662 ha or 28% of the total region area. No land use changes were observed in forestlands, other lands, wetlands, or settlements in Gakh since 2000, whereas 104 ha of grasslands were converted to croplands. Trees are present on 49.3% of total land, equal to 73,508 ha. Approximately 56.7% of total tree cover exists in forestlands, and 43.3% exists outside of forests. The research detected disturbances such as logging, fire, and grazing, and found signs of wind, river, coastal, rainfall-runoff, and landslide erosion in Gakh.

Keywords

Collect Earth, Google Earth, Land Use and Land Use Change, Agdash, Gakh, Azerbaijan.

Supporting Institution

This study was funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and MENR as part of the ‶Forest Resources Assessment and Monitoring to Strengthen Forest Knowledge Framework in Azerbaijan (GCP/AZE/007/GFF)″ Project. The study design, data collection and analysis, manuscript preparation, and decision to submit the work for publication were all done without the funders’ input.

Thanks

The author thanks all operators who participated in the “Capacity Development Training on Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry Assessment” between 21 and 31 January 2019 in Baku/Azerbaijan; MENR for providing the shapefiles; Ms. Rebecca Tavani, Forestry Officer, for her supervision, Mr. Bariz Mehdiyev, Assistant Representative of FAO Azerbaijan, for his facilitation, Mr. Alfonso Sánchez-Paus Díaz for his support in developing CE methodology and survey, and FAO Azerbaijan Office for organizing the training. The author also expresses his gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for their insightful feedback on the paper.

Collect Earth ile Bölgesel Arazi Kullanımı Değerlendirmesi: Azerbaycan’ın Ağdaş ve Kah Vaka Çalışmaları

Abstract

Periyodik arazi kullanımı ve arazi kullanımı değişikliği değerlendirmeleri, etkili arazi kullanımı planlaması ve yönetimi için son derece doğru veri oluşturmak amacıyla tüm arazi kullanım kategorilerini ve alt kategorilerdeki toplam alanı ve zaman içindeki değişiklikleri izlemektedir. Collect Earth, zaman içinde arazi kullanım kategorilerindeki arazi kullanım eğilimlerini izlemek için ücretsiz erişimli bir yazılımdır. Çalışma, Azerbaycan'ın Ağdaş ve Kah bölgelerindeki orman ve diğer arazi kullanımlarındaki alan değişimini rapor ederek, Google Earth platformundaki çok yüksek mekansal ve zamansal çözünürlüklü uydu görüntülerinin görsel yorumlayarak 2.543 adet 0,5 hektarlık örnekle noktayı analiz etmiştir. Ağdaş’da ormanlık alanların yaklaşık 7.037 ha veya toplam bölge alanının %6,9'u olduğu hesaplanmış ve ormanlar 2000 yılından bu yana %1,3 oranında azalmıştır. Buna karşılık, meralar yaklaşık % 2.07 oranında artmıştır. Ağaç örtüsü Ağdaş’ın sadece %20,9'unda bulunur ve toplam 21.296 ha’dır. Ağaç örtüsünün %67’sinden fazlası diğer arazi kullanım kategorilerinde bulunmaktadır. Çalışma, sel, yangın, kaçak ağaç kesimi ve otlatma gibi tahribata neden olan olayları tespit etmeyi başarmıştır ve Ağdaş'ta nehir erozyonu, yüzeyi akışı erozyonu ve toprak kaymalarına dair kanıtlar bulmuştur. Kah ormanlarının yaklaşık 41.662 hektar veya toplam bölge alanının % 28'i olduğu hesaplanmıştır. 2000 yılından bu yana Kah'taki ormanlık alanlarda, diğer arazilerde, sulak alanlarda veya yerleşim yerlerinde arazi kullanımında herhangi bir değişiklik gözlenmezken, 104 hektar mera tarım arazisine dönüştürülmüştür. Ağaçlar toplam arazinin % 49,3'ünde bulunur, bu da 73.508 hektara eşittir. Toplam ağaç örtüsünün yaklaşık %56,7'si ormanlık alanlarda, %43,3'ü ise orman dışındaki arazilerde bulunmaktadır. Araştırma, kaçak ağaç kesimi, yangın ve otlatma gibi tahribata neden olan olayları tespit etti ve Gakh'ta rüzgar, nehir, kıyı, yağış erozyonuna ve toprak kaymasına ilişkin işaretler tespit etmiştir.

Keywords

Collect Earth, Google Earth, Arazi Kullanımı ve Arazi Kullanım Değişikliği, Ağdaş, Kah, Azerbaycan

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