Study of causes and effects of land use changes in coastal area using GIS: East coast gulf and Welu river sub-basin, Chanthaburi
1997
Kanjana Chuenpichai (Land Development Dept., Bangkok (Thailand). Office of Coastal Land Development)
Chanthaburi has abundance of natural resources in upland and coastal plains which markedly contribute to national and regional development. It is one of the provinces having the highest potential for coastal aquaculture development as well as having a complex problem on the coastal areas. The coastal areas of Chanthaburi, particularly in the East Coast Gulf Sub-basin and Welu River Sub-basin are densely populated and support a broad range of diversified economic activities. Hence, the effective management of coastal resources require an understanding the past land use changes. Once the mechanisms of land use change are well understood, the specific future land use patterns can be predicted - this information is valuable to land use planners and regional planners. The overall objective of this paper is to apply GIS for the analysis of land use changes and to identify the major causes and effects of land use changes in coastal areas. In the study area, the mangrove forest has decreased with the highest speed of 10,654 rai per year, followed by paddy and upland forest with the changing speed of 7,096 and 5,300 rai per year respectively. The main causes of land use changes are identified as no people participation in forest conservation, shrimp farming development, para rubber and orchard replacement, right to farm (STK), and lacking authority and law enforecement. The direct effects of land use changes are overexploitation of its natural resources and conflict of the uses over land among various groups.
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