IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i7p2775-d1364987.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investigating Land Cover Changes and Their Impact on Land Surface Temperature in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Author

Listed:
  • Hammad Ul Hussan

    (Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Hua Li

    (Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Qinhuo Liu

    (Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Barjeece Bashir

    (Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China
    International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals, Beijing 100094, China)

  • Tian Hu

    (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, 4362 Belvaux, Luxembourg)

  • Shouyi Zhong

    (Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

Abstract

Restoration of degraded land is a significant concern in the 21st century in order to combat the impacts of climate change. For this reason, the provisional government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan, initialized a Billion Tree Tsunami Project (BTTP) in 2013 and finished it in 2017. Although a few researchers have investigated the land use transitions under BTTP in the short term by merging all the vegetation types into one, analysis of the long-term benefits of the project and future persistence were missing. Furthermore, the previous studies have not discussed whether the prime objective of the BTTP was achieved. Considering the existing gaps, this research mainly involves analyzing (i) fluctuations in the green fraction by employing a land change modeler (LCM), along with the spatial location of gain-loss and exchange analysis using a high-resolution dataset (GLC30); (ii) forest cover changes under the influence of the BTTP; (iii) impacts of green fraction changes towards land surface temperature (LST) by utilizing the less-explored technique of curve fit linear regression modeling (CFLR); and finally, (iv) assessing the persistence of the NDVI and LST trends by employing the Hurst exponent. Research findings indicate that as an output of BTTP, despite the government’s claim of increasing the forest cover by 2%, a significant gain of grassland (3904.87 km 2 ) was observed at the cost of bare land. In comparison, the overall increase in forest cover was only 0.39%, which does not satisfy the main objective of this project. On the other hand, the CFLRM-based actual contributions of land cover change (LCC) transition to LST indicate a significant decline in LST in the areas with gains in green fraction for both grassland and forest. At the same time, an increase was observed with reverse transitions. Although the results appear positive for climatic impacts in the short term, the HURST model-based persistence analysis revealed that the spatial locations of increasing vegetation and decreasing LST trends fall under the weakly persistent category, therefore these trends may not continue in the near future. Despite some positive impact on LST attributed to the green fraction increase, this project cannot be regarded as a complete success due to its failure to achieve its prime objective.

Suggested Citation

  • Hammad Ul Hussan & Hua Li & Qinhuo Liu & Barjeece Bashir & Tian Hu & Shouyi Zhong, 2024. "Investigating Land Cover Changes and Their Impact on Land Surface Temperature in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-20, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:7:p:2775-:d:1364987
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/7/2775/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/7/2775/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Denis Krivoguz & Sergei G. Chernyi & Elena Zinchenko & Artem Silkin & Anton Zinchenko, 2023. "Using Landsat-5 for Accurate Historical LULC Classification: A Comparison of Machine Learning Models," Data, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-17, August.
    2. Jonathan A. Patz & Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum & Tracey Holloway & Jonathan A. Foley, 2005. "Impact of regional climate change on human health," Nature, Nature, vol. 438(7066), pages 310-317, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Molini, A. & Talkner, P. & Katul, G.G. & Porporato, A., 2011. "First passage time statistics of Brownian motion with purely time dependent drift and diffusion," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(11), pages 1841-1852.
    2. Denis Maragno & Michele Dalla Fontana & Francesco Musco, 2020. "Mapping Heat Stress Vulnerability and Risk Assessment at the Neighborhood Scale to Drive Urban Adaptation Planning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-16, February.
    3. Bing Li & Zhifeng Liu & Ying Nan & Shengnan Li & Yanmin Yang, 2018. "Comparative Analysis of Urban Heat Island Intensities in Chinese, Russian, and DPRK Regions across the Transnational Urban Agglomeration of the Tumen River in Northeast Asia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-16, July.
    4. Michael Tong & Berhanu Wondmagegn & Jianjun Xiang & Alana Hansen & Keith Dear & Dino Pisaniello & Blesson Varghese & Jianguo Xiao & Le Jian & Benjamin Scalley & Monika Nitschke & John Nairn & Hilary B, 2022. "Hospitalization Costs of Respiratory Diseases Attributable to Temperature in Australia and Projections for Future Costs in the 2030s and 2050s under Climate Change," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-16, August.
    5. Nicolas Taconet & Aurélie Méjean & Céline Guivarch, 2020. "Influence of climate change impacts and mitigation costs on inequality between countries," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 15-34, May.
    6. Jaewon Kwak & Huiseong Noh & Soojun Kim & Vijay P. Singh & Seung Jin Hong & Duckgil Kim & Keonhaeng Lee & Narae Kang & Hung Soo Kim, 2014. "Future Climate Data from RCP 4.5 and Occurrence of Malaria in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-19, October.
    7. Mariani, Fabio & Pérez-Barahona, Agustín & Raffin, Natacha, 2010. "Life expectancy and the environment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 798-815, April.
    8. Louise Bedsworth, 2012. "California’s local health agencies and the state’s climate adaptation strategy," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 119-133, March.
    9. Menconi, M.E. & Giordano, S. & Grohmann, D., 2022. "Revisiting global food production and consumption patterns by developing resilient food systems for local communities," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    10. Xiaoguang Chen & Madhu Khanna & Lu Yang, 2022. "The impacts of temperature on Chinese food processing firms," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 66(2), pages 256-279, April.
    11. Alper Ozpinar, 2023. "A Hyper-Integrated Mobility as a Service (MaaS) to Gamification and Carbon Market Enterprise Architecture Framework for Sustainable Environment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-22, March.
    12. Flückiger, Matthias & Ludwig, Markus, 2022. "Temperature and risk of diarrhoea among children in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    13. Nicholas A. Mailloux & Colleen P. Henegan & Dorothy Lsoto & Kristen P. Patterson & Paul C. West & Jonathan A. Foley & Jonathan A. Patz, 2021. "Climate Solutions Double as Health Interventions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-15, December.
    14. SangHyeok Lee & Donghyun Kim, 2022. "Multidisciplinary Understanding of the Urban Heating Problem and Mitigation: A Conceptual Framework for Urban Planning," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-15, August.
    15. Shinji Otani & Satomi Funaki Ishizu & Toshio Masumoto & Hiroki Amano & Youichi Kurozawa, 2021. "The Effect of Minimum and Maximum Air Temperatures in the Summer on Heat Stroke in Japan: A Time-Stratified Case-Crossover Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-12, February.
    16. Laetitia H. M. Schmitt & Hilary M. Graham & Piran C. L. White, 2016. "Economic Evaluations of the Health Impacts of Weather-Related Extreme Events: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, November.
    17. Neha Sinha, 2012. "Climate Change Issues and Global Negotiations," Insight on Africa, , vol. 4(1), pages 35-57, January.
    18. Liukuan Zhang & Xiaoxiao Shi & Qing Chang, 2022. "Exploring Adaptive UHI Mitigation Solutions by Spatial Heterogeneity of Land Surface Temperature and Its Relationship to Urban Morphology in Historical Downtown Blocks, Beijing," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-24, April.
    19. Nicholas D. Kim & Matthew D. Taylor & Jonathan Caldwell & Andrew Rumsby & Olivier Champeau & Louis A. Tremblay, 2020. "Development and Deployment of a Framework to Prioritize Environmental Contamination Issues," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-23, November.
    20. Zhihui Liu & Yongna Meng & Hao Xiang & Yuanan Lu & Suyang Liu, 2020. "Association of Short-Term Exposure to Meteorological Factors and Risk of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-18, October.

    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:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:7:p:2775-:d:1364987. 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.