Land use and Cover Changes in the Northern Mountains of Pakistan; A Spatio-Temporal Change using MODIS (MCD12Q1) Time Series

In the sustainable management of natural resources, land use and land cover (LULC) changes play an essential role. Pakistan is rich in biodiversity and provides ecosystem services to the country’s population, especially the mountains of the northern highland. These areas have experienced extensive depletion of ecosystem services and are susceptible to fast LULC changes. Real-time monitoring and assessment based on spatio-temporal are important to know such LULC changes. This study examines LULC in the northern mountains of Pakistan from MODIS (MCD12Q1) time series from 2001 to 2018. LULC was classified into ten significant classes. Findings of the data revealed that shrublands (0.33-0.17%), grasslands (45.83-41.74), and cropland (12.71-10.47) were decreased significantly. At the same time, savannas, permanent wetlands, urban and built-up lands, natural vegetation, permanent snow and ice, and barren lands increased substantially over the entire period. Due to the lack of baseline data, the LULC map will play an essential role in the sustainable management of LULC in the Hindu Kush, Karakoram and Himalayan regions of Pakistan.