Acta Scientiarum Polonorum. Formatio Circumiectus (May 2024)

Estimation of Spatiotemporal Changes of Land Cover in Llapi River Catchment (Northeastern Part of Kosova)

  • Valbon Bytyqi,
  • Besarta Ibrahimi,
  • Tropikë Agaj

DOI
https://doi.org/10.15576/ASP.FC/183164
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 1
pp. 55 – 74

Abstract

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Aim of the study: In recent decades, Kosovo in general and the Llapi River catchment in particular have experienced landscape transformation, which resulted in Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) changes, mainly in the flat terrains where most of country’s population is concentrated. Other landscapes have experienced changes too, but on a smaller scale. The aim of the present study was to identify landscape transformation and driving forces behind it. Material and methods: Spatiotemporal changes of Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) were recorded using GIS techniques. Land Cover data from Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) with spatial resolution 100 m for three different years: 2000, 2006 and 2018 were analysed. DEM with 10 m spatial resolution was used to estimate slope steepness and catchment altitude. Population data for settlements inside the Llapi River catchment, represented in features, were imported from the Statistical Agency of Kosovo, and those data include population numbers for official censuses between 1948 until 2011, whereas ArcMap 10.8 environment was used for analysis. Results and conclusions: With GIS technique in analysing Land Use and Land Cover data (LULC) and other open source data, we found that agricultural land have decreased in area, by as much as 9.53%, while the increase of artificial surface was 160.87%. Expressed in absolute values, total size of agricultural areas in 2000 amounted to 37,827 ha, while in 2018, this amounted to 34,334 ha, which is 0.3 ha per capita less than European average. In order to protect agricultural land, zoning and land use plans should be implemented.

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