Cartographic modeling of land cover change and land use in Abu Saida sub-district

Abstract

The study and control of land cover changes and land uses using remote sensing data and representing them with cartographic models is one of the latest techniques in force geographically at the global level, and in order to study the changes that occurred on the land cover and land uses in Abu Saida district, one of the Muqdadiyah districts within Diyala Governorate in Iraq In line with the technical development of contemporary geography, the researcher used two space visuals, one for the TM sensor and the other for the OIL sensor for the American satellite (Landsat 5-8) for the years 1997 and 2021, to classify the uses of the land and its land cover and to reveal the change that occurred between 1997 and 2021, and the classification resulted in five Categories within the study area represented by (orchards, agricultural fields, built-up lands, water, barren lands), and based on the (USGS) classification developed by Anderson and adopted by the US Geological Survey, and the percentage of change between these two years was revealed using the systems environment. Geographical information through the program (Arc Map 10.3). Other varieties and with the highest positive change rate that reached (127.3%) of the total area of the study area, offset by a significant decrease in the area of orchards and agricultural fields and with a negative change rate that reached (26.2%, -80.4%) for each of them, respectively, in addition to an increase in the area of built-up lands (Urban) with a positive change rate of (12.9%), and a decrease in the area of the submerged lands with a negative change rate of (-54.1%). Diyala Governorate in general, in addition to the significant increase in summer temperatures, which was reflected in the destruction of large numbers of fruit trees. The study also found that human factors have a role no less important than the role of natural factors in changing the land cover and land uses within the study area, if not superior to it, which is The poor security situation in it after 2003, which resulted in the emigration and displacement of large numbers of orchard owners, as well as the low level of the agricultural sector and its low returns, and the weak application of the law to stop the deliberate demolition of orchards in it are all factors that reinforced the degradation environment within the study area.