Analysis of Land Cover Change Using Landsat Imagery in Thapangthong District,Savannakhet Province,Lao PDR

The study aimed to quantify the change inland cover between the years 2005 and 2016;using remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems(GIS).The study is based on data collected from the satellite images-Landsat-5Thematic Mapper(TM)2005 and Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager(OLI)2016.Also,did an imagination process.There are five classes of land cover as the following numbers;1)mixed deciduous forest,2)dry dipterocarp forest,3)agricultural land,4)built-up land,and 5)water discrimination.The study found that during this 11-years period,dry dipterocarp forest decreased by 8.72%of the total area whereas agricultural land increased by 7.13%of the total area,followed by built-up land(0.85%),and water(0.62%).In addition,mixed deciduous has slightly increased by 0.85%,especially the agricultural land expanded to a mixed deciduous forest.Besides that,the overall classification accuracy of the map was 84.25%,and Kapa Coefficient was about 0.70%.In addition,the study found out the relative information due to land cover has been changing in Thapangthong district.This information is not currently known.The study is recommending that future research should study the possibility of sustainable forest management in the district.