Changes in Cropland Status and Their Driving Factors in the Koshi River Basin of the Central Himalayas, Nepal

Basanta Paudel, Jungang Gao, Yili Zhang, Xue Wu, Shicheng Li and Jianzhong Yan
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Basanta Paudel: Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Jungang Gao: Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Yili Zhang: Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Xue Wu: Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Shicheng Li: Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Jianzhong Yan: College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 9, 1-17

Abstract: In recent decades, human activities have significantly transformed land use and land cover (LULC) and the environment of the Central Himalayas region. LULC is a major component of environmental and climatic research. The aim of this study was to determine the changes in cropland status and its drivers in the Koshi River Basin (KRB) of the Central Himalayas region of Nepal between 1978 and 2010. The cropland status in 1978 was obtained from the Land Resources Mapping Project (LRMP) datasets. The cropland status in 1992 and 2010 was determined on the basis of satellite imagery, with an object-oriented classification method, together with field investigations. Advanced geographical tools were used for data processing and binary logistic regression models were used for the statistical analysis of potential driving factors of cropland change. A noticeable overall change in cropland area was found, with rapid increases from 1978 onward at differing rates and to different extents. The cropland area covered 7165 km 2 in 1978. It peaked at 7867.49 km 2 in 1992, and had reduced slightly (by 90 km 2 ) to 7776.66 km 2 by 2010. The change in cropland area was mainly related to four potential driving factors: topography (elevation, slope, and soil types), socioeconomics (population and foreign labor migration), climate (annual mean temperature and precipitation), and neighborhood factors (roads, rivers, and settlements). However, the effects of the different variables have occurred over various stages and at different rates. An understanding of long-term changes in cropland status in the KRB would be useful, and this could be extended to spatial reconstructions with the help of historical data, including cropland and climatic archives.

Keywords: cropland change; driving factors; logistic regression; Koshi River Basin; Nepal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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