文章基本信息

标题：Assessing the Impacts of Population Growth and Roads on Forest Cover: A Temporal Approach to Reconstruct the Deforestation Process in District Kurram, Pakistan, since 1972
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作者：Kamal Hussain ; Fazlur Rahman ; Ihsan Ullah 等
期刊名称：Land
印刷版ISSN：2073-445X
出版年度：2022
卷号：11
期号：6
页码：810
DOI：10.3390/land11060810
语种：English
出版社：MDPI, Open Access Journal
摘要：Deforestation in remote mountainous regions is considered to be one of the fundamental elements for triggering changes in the biophysical environment driven by various socioeconomic parameters, particularly population growth and road construction in a previously inaccessible environment. A sudden increase in population exerts adverse impacts on the local natural resources, specifically forests. The present study is conducted in Tribal District Kurram, located in the northwestern mountainous belt of Pakistan. This study is aimed to analyze the temporal pattern of deforestation and to explore the impacts of population growth and accessibility on forest cover. It is based on remotely sensed data, focused group discussions, interviews and field observations. The satellite images were processed and classified using ArcGIS and ERDAS IMAGINE. The time span of this study is 1972 to 2019, which is further divided into three periods. The results revealed that almost half (48%) of the forest cover was reduced in ca. five decades. However, considerable variation has been observed in the deforestation rate during the study period. The results of this study revealed that both population change and accessibility have played a vital role in the deforestation process.