Remote Sensing of Land Cover Change, Degradation, and Impacts on Environment in South/Southeast Asia

Dear Colleagues,

The major causes of land-cover change (LCC) and degradation in several Asian countries are the rapid increase in population and economic development. Inappropriate land-use systems and land-tenure policies are further importance causes of land degradation. For example, forest degradation and deforestation in South/Southeast Asia are due to slash and burn agriculture, conversion to rubber and oil palm plantations and dependence on forest resources. The other drivers of LCC and degradation include government policies, inappropriate land management, etc. Variability in weather, climate and socioeconomic factors also affect LCC and degradation. Some of the impacts of LCC include the disruption of biogeochemical cycles, radiation and the energy balance of the surface–atmosphere interface. Spatially explicit data are essential to documenting LCC and degradation. It is very important to understand and quantify the status and causes of LCC and degradation. Due to its synoptic, multi-temporal, multi-spectral and repetitive coverage capabilities, remote sensing can be effectively used to quantify LCC degradation and associated impacts. Furthermore, in South/Southeast Asian countries, there is an increasing need to develop consistent regional LUCC products useful for environmental impact assessment and policymaking. This Special Issue invites the submission of articles focusing on the LCC and degradation issues in the region and their impacts, integrating both remote sensing data and ground-based measurements. The articles can focus on:

• Land-cover changes, degradation mapping and monitoring in different environments such as forests, farmlands, urban environments, woodlands, mountain environments, wetlands, etc.
• The use of optical multispectral, hyperspectral, and LIDAR as well as thermal IR observations from satellites and airborne remote sensing assets for land-cover mapping and degradation assessment, including impacts.
• Land-cover changes, degradation and associated impacts on environment, such as greenhouse gas emissions, loss of nutrients, air, water and soil pollution, etc.
• Spatio-temporal data mining, data fusion, modeling and analysis of land-cover change, degradation and impact assessment studies.

Dr. Krishna Vadrevu
Prof. Dr. Chris Justice
Dr. Garik Gutman
Guest Editors

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