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Land Use Status, Change and Impacts in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos
Project Start Date
05/01/2018
Project End Date
12/31/2021
Grant Number
Task Order 80NM0018F0590
Project Call Name
Regional_Initiative_Name
Solicitation
default

Team Members:

Person Name Person role on project Affiliation
Son Nghiem Principal Investigator Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States of America (USA)
Andrea Gaughan Co-Investigator Department of Geography and Geosciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, USA
Forrest Stevens Co-Investigator Department of Geography and Geosciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, USA
Thuy Le Toan Collaborator Centre d'Etudes Spatiales de la BIOsphère (CESBIO) in France, Toulouse, France
Thuy Tuong Vu Collaborator Hoa Sen University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Abstract

The overall science objective of this research is to quantitatively document the current status and rate of change of how land cover and land use and how trajectories of these changes are linked to population and demographic transitions for the Southeast (SE) Asian countries of Vietnam (VN), Cambodia (CB), and Laos (LS). This is directly and closely relevant to the A.02 element on Land Cover and Land Use Change (LCLUC) in SE Asia. In the scope of this proposal, given the finite resources and schedule, we will focus the research on three interconnected science questions, each with specific aspects: Q1: It is known that rapid LCLUC has occurred over VN, CB, and LS, especially the loss of important forest regions since the turn of the 21st century, considered as ecocide [Cdr. Jah, ISBN 978-93-82652-77-9, 2014]. Now a key question is what has happened over those deforested land as well as non-deforested land in terms of the current land use status, specifically: (1) Whether the deforested areas are still denuded and/or deforestation has expanded to other areas; (2) whether the deforested land has converted to a more natural state (e.g., grass land) or is being used for agriculture (e.g., rice fields); and (3) where reforestation exists, whether it is on previously denuded land, or the natural forests are replaced by commercial tree plantations (e.g., rubber trees). Q2: From the quantitative delineation of the above current land cover and land use status (denoted as LCLUS henceforth), the next connected component is quantifying spatial patterns and temporal trends of LCLUC, specifically: (1) How does multi-scale spatial fragmentation in rural and natural landscapes vary within a country and across borders of different countries; (2) with recent shifts in LCLUC, what type of seasonal vegetation change has emerged over rural and natural land in a country and in different countries? And (3) what is the quantitative characterization of the recent rate of LCLUC since year 2000. Q3: The above observations of LCLUS together with the LCLUC patterns, trends, and rate of change are coupled/integrated with population and demographic data for each country, specifically to address: (1) How population distribution (e.g., rural versus urban) is associated with LCLUS for built, agricultural, and forested lands and how the population change trajectories in relation to the observed LCLUC patterns occur differently in the tri-nations; (2) how subnational demographic changes in working-age versus dependent populations may affect or be impacted by LCLUC; and (3) how policies in different regions and in different countries may be driving or impacted by LCLUC. Here, we consider specific case studies of factors that may drive the differences in LCLUC and force different impacts within and across borders of the different countries (e.g., plantation development in VN, Economic Land Concessions policy in CB, and population resettlement policy in LS). We expect an array of new products that accurately and quantitatively document the LCLUS and LCLUC to answer Q1, Q2, and Q3 in the interconnected physical and socioeconomic dimensions in the tri-nations. Answering Q1/Q2/Q3 involves three tasks. Task 1: Massive SAR data products for LCLUS and derivative products from fusions of multi-sourced datasets. Task 2: Products for LCLUC obtained from multiple SAR data, decadal scatterometer data, and ancillary datasets. Task 3: Products for high-resolution population distribution also broken down by age group and gender, subnational dependency ratios for each year since 2000, which significantly advance the understanding of relationship between population dynamics and LCLUC to study policy effects in VN/CB/LS. Remote sensing results will be verified with ground truth data, and population results will be verified with census data and with independent satelliteobserved patterns. Deliverables will include reports, presentations, and publications.

Project Research Area

Project Documents

Year Authors Type Title
2022 Adam Mathews Son Nghiem Publications A. J. Mathews and S. V. Nghiem, Examining urban built-up volume: three-dimensional analyses with lidar and radar data, in Urban Remote Sensing: Monitoring, Synthesis and Modeling in the Urban Environment (2nd Edition), X. Yang ed., Chapter 2, pp. 17-45, ISBN: 978-1-119-62584-1, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., published in print in February 2022.
2022 Shenyue Jia Son Nghiem Publications S. Jia, S. V. Nghiem, S. H. Kim, L. Krauser, A. E. Gaughan, F. R. Stevens, M. Kafatos, and K. D. Ngo, Extreme Development of Dragon Fruit Agriculture with Nighttime Lighting in Southern Vietnam, pp. 553-571, in: Vadrevu, K. P., Le Toan, T., Ray, S. S., Justice, C. (eds), Remote Sensing of Agriculture and Land Cover/Land Use Changes in South and Southeast Asian Countries. Springer, Cham., doi:10.1007/978-3-030-92365-5_32, 29 March 2022.
2021 Laura Krauser Forrest Stevens Publications Krauser, L. E., F. R. Stevens, A. E. Gaughan, S. V. Nghiem, T. M. T. Pham, T. N. D. Pham, and T. C. Le (2021), Shedding Light on Agricultural Transitions, Dragon Fruit Cultivation, and Electrification in Southern Vietnam Using Mixed Methods, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, doi:10.1080/24694452.2021.1940825 (https://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080/24694452.2021.1940825).
2021 Khanh Duc Ngo Son Nghiem Publications Ngo, K., Nghiem, S., Lechner, A., & Vu, T. (2021). Building Structure Mapping on Level Terrains and Sea Surfaces in Vietnam. Remote Sensing, 13(13), 2439. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13132439 : Also see https://esdresearch.nasa.gov/result/building-structure-mapping-level-terrains-and-sea-surfaces-vietnam
2021 Laura Krauser Andrea Gaughan Publications L. Krauser, A. E. Gaughan, F. R. Stevens, S. V. Nghiem, P. T. M. Thy, P. T. N. Duy, and L. T. Chon, Shedding Light on Agricultural Transitions, Dragon Fruit Cultivation, and Electrification in Southern Vietnam Using Mixed Methods, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, vol. 112, issue 4, doi:10.1080/24694452.2021.1940825, September 2021.
2021 Publications Krauser, L., A. E. Gaughan, F. R. Stevens, S. V. Nghiem, Mai Thy T. Pham, D. T. Pham, and C. T. Le, An Investigation of Land Use Dynamics for Dragon Fruit Production in Bình Thuận Province, Vietnam, accepted, Ann. American Assoc. Geograph., 2021
2021 Manh Van Pham Son Nghiem Publications Pham, VM., Van Nghiem, S., Van Pham, C. et al. Urbanization impact on landscape patterns in cultural heritage preservation sites: a case study of the complex of Huế Monuments, Vietnam. Landscape Ecol (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01189-0
2019 Andrea Gaughan Tomohiro Oda Publications A. E. Gaughan, T. Oda, A. Sorichetta, F. R. Stevens, M. Bondarenko, R. Bun, L. Krauser, G. Yetman, and S. V. Nghiem, Evaluating nighttime lights and population distribution as proxies fo mapping anthropogenic CO2 emission in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, Environ. Res. Comm., doi:10.1088/2515-7620/ab3d91, 1, 091006, September 2019
2019 Adam Mathews Amy Frazier Publications A. J. Mathews, A. E. Frazier, S. V. Nghiem, G. Neumann, and Y. Zhao, Satellite scatterometer estimation of urban built-up volume: Validation with airborne lidar data, Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinformation, 77, 100-107, doi:10.1016/j.jag.2019.01.004, January 2019
2019 Manh Van Pham Son Nghiem Publications M. V. Pham, S. V. Nghiem, T. Q. Bui, T. M. Pham, and C. V. Pham, Quantitative assessment of urbanization and impacts in the Complex of Huế Monuments, Vietnam, Applied Geography, 112, 102096, doi:10.1016/j.apgeog.2019.102096, November 2019
2019 Mark Z. Jacobson Son Nghiem Publications M. Z. Jacobson, S. V. Nghiem, and A. Sorichetta, Short-term impacts of the megaurbanizations of New Delhi and Los Angeles between 2000 and 2009, J. Geophys. Res: Atmospheres, 124, doi:10.1029/2018JD029310, January 2019
2019 Son Nghiem NASA LCLUC Science Team Presentation Land-Use Status, Change and Impacts in Vietnam/Cambodia/Laos
2019 Zsófia Kugler Son Nghiem Publications Z. Kugler, S. V. Nghiem, and G. R. Brakenridge, L-Band Passive Microwave Data from SMOS for River Gauging Observations in Tropical Climates, Remote Sensing, 11, 835, doi:10.3390/rs11070835, April 2019.
2019 Deborah Balk Son Nghiem Publications D. L. Balk, S. V. Nghiem, B. R. Jones, Z. Liu, and G. Dunn, Up and out: A multifaceted approach to characterizing urbanization in Greater Saigon, 2000–2009, Landscape and Urban Planning, 187, 199-209, doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.07.009, July 2019