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Quantitative assessment of deforestation and forest degradation in Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP): employing landsat data and socio-economic survey

Deforestation and forest degradation is a global concern, especially in developing countries. The Margalla Hills of Pakistan—Himalayan foothills—also face the threat of deforestation and forest degradation. These Margalla Hills, considering the need for forest protection activities in Pakistan, were...

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Main Authors: Ahmed, Hiba, Jallat, Hamayoon, Hussain, Ejaz, Saqib, Najam u, Saqib, Zafeer, Khokhar, Muhammad Fahim, Khan, Waseem Razzaq
Format: Article
Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2023
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109297/
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/2/201
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spelling my.upm.eprints.1092972024-08-16T07:28:27Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109297/ Quantitative assessment of deforestation and forest degradation in Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP): employing landsat data and socio-economic survey Ahmed, Hiba Jallat, Hamayoon Hussain, Ejaz Saqib, Najam u Saqib, Zafeer Khokhar, Muhammad Fahim Khan, Waseem Razzaq Deforestation and forest degradation is a global concern, especially in developing countries. The Margalla Hills of Pakistan—Himalayan foothills—also face the threat of deforestation and forest degradation. These Margalla Hills, considering the need for forest protection activities in Pakistan, were declared a reserved national forest and named “the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP)”. This study quantitively evaluates whether deforestation and forest degradation have occurred at MHNP and identifies their possible drivers. Satellite (Landsat) data 1988–2020 was employed for the land use change analysis, whereas a socio-economic survey of the local population and structured interviews with government officials were conducted to identify the drivers of deforestation. Supervised classification was performed for imagery classification and the Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) was also calculated to measure degradation. Supervised classification showed that the forest cover increased from 65% of the total area in 1988 to 69% in 2020. The VCI results show that the moderate level of degradation has increased from 3.5% of MHNP area in 1988 to 8.8% in 2020. The cumulative measure of degradation from 1988 to 2020 is 1.09% of the total forest (using p < 0.05). Major drivers identified are fuel wood and timber collection. The results reveal a decline in both deforestation and forest degradation. There is a need for further quantitative analysis of the drivers, strict implementation of legislative and control measures, and continuous invigilation of the deforestation trends in MHNP. Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2023-01-20 Article PeerReviewed Ahmed, Hiba and Jallat, Hamayoon and Hussain, Ejaz and Saqib, Najam u and Saqib, Zafeer and Khokhar, Muhammad Fahim and Khan, Waseem Razzaq (2023) Quantitative assessment of deforestation and forest degradation in Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP): employing landsat data and socio-economic survey. Forests, 14 (2). art. no. 201. pp. 1-14. ISSN 1999-4907 https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/2/201 10.3390/f14020201
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
description Deforestation and forest degradation is a global concern, especially in developing countries. The Margalla Hills of Pakistan—Himalayan foothills—also face the threat of deforestation and forest degradation. These Margalla Hills, considering the need for forest protection activities in Pakistan, were declared a reserved national forest and named “the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP)”. This study quantitively evaluates whether deforestation and forest degradation have occurred at MHNP and identifies their possible drivers. Satellite (Landsat) data 1988–2020 was employed for the land use change analysis, whereas a socio-economic survey of the local population and structured interviews with government officials were conducted to identify the drivers of deforestation. Supervised classification was performed for imagery classification and the Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) was also calculated to measure degradation. Supervised classification showed that the forest cover increased from 65% of the total area in 1988 to 69% in 2020. The VCI results show that the moderate level of degradation has increased from 3.5% of MHNP area in 1988 to 8.8% in 2020. The cumulative measure of degradation from 1988 to 2020 is 1.09% of the total forest (using p < 0.05). Major drivers identified are fuel wood and timber collection. The results reveal a decline in both deforestation and forest degradation. There is a need for further quantitative analysis of the drivers, strict implementation of legislative and control measures, and continuous invigilation of the deforestation trends in MHNP.
format Article
author Ahmed, Hiba
Jallat, Hamayoon
Hussain, Ejaz
Saqib, Najam u
Saqib, Zafeer
Khokhar, Muhammad Fahim
Khan, Waseem Razzaq
spellingShingle Ahmed, Hiba
Jallat, Hamayoon
Hussain, Ejaz
Saqib, Najam u
Saqib, Zafeer
Khokhar, Muhammad Fahim
Khan, Waseem Razzaq
Quantitative assessment of deforestation and forest degradation in Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP): employing landsat data and socio-economic survey
author_facet Ahmed, Hiba
Jallat, Hamayoon
Hussain, Ejaz
Saqib, Najam u
Saqib, Zafeer
Khokhar, Muhammad Fahim
Khan, Waseem Razzaq
author_sort Ahmed, Hiba
title Quantitative assessment of deforestation and forest degradation in Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP): employing landsat data and socio-economic survey
title_short Quantitative assessment of deforestation and forest degradation in Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP): employing landsat data and socio-economic survey
title_full Quantitative assessment of deforestation and forest degradation in Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP): employing landsat data and socio-economic survey
title_fullStr Quantitative assessment of deforestation and forest degradation in Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP): employing landsat data and socio-economic survey
title_full_unstemmed Quantitative assessment of deforestation and forest degradation in Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP): employing landsat data and socio-economic survey
title_sort quantitative assessment of deforestation and forest degradation in margalla hills national park (mhnp): employing landsat data and socio-economic survey
publisher Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
publishDate 2023
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109297/
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/2/201
_version_ 1809142985391079424
score 13.211869

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