Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Mangrove Extents in Hai Phong City, Vietnam

The comprehension of mangrove status is based on the ability to separate plant, land and water objects in remotely sensed data in the view of the reflectivity or radiation of the object. The application of GIS and remote sensing technology to analyze mangrove fluctuations has been widely used in the world. High population growth and migration into coastal areas are found to be one of the most extensive land use changes in recent decades and could result in the destructive of the coastal areas of Hai Phong, Vietnam. Coastal areas are at risk of climate change impact and the future trend of this land use could cause coastal erosion, and land degradation. This study provides an assessment of spatiotemporal changes of mangrove extent using remotely sensed data and identifies the drivers. In this study, Landsat and Sentinel-2 data were utilized to quantify the spatiotemporal changes in land use and land cover (LULCC). The study focused on the periods of 1994-2001, 2001-2010, 2010-2015 and 2015-2018, and decadal changes. Unsupervised classification was selected to determine the land use and land cover. Error-matrix based accuracy assessment was accomplished after ground truthing. Comparing two case study sites, Tien Lang district was found to be the most vulnerable to socio-economic development and natural disaster. This paper demonstrates the congruous development of relevant key drivers of coastal mangrove change, with an emphasis on land use change drivers. This study will be helpful for future research but also illustrates an applicable plan for sustainable mangrove management.