Identification of Land Cover Changes of the Tanguar Haor over the Last 40 Years Using Landsat Satellite Image in GIS

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-884-4_49How to use a DOI?

Keywords

GIS; Land cover change; Wetlands; Tanguar Haor; Satellite image

Abstract

Land-use and land-cover change is a common and prominent feature in the haor region. Tanguar Haor, one of Bangladesh’s largest freshwater wetlands and a Ramsar site, has undergone significant ecological transformations over the past four decades due to anthropogenic pressures. This study analyzes land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes in Tanguar Haor and its 2 km (kms) buffer zone from 1980 to 2020 using Landsat satellite imagery and GIS techniques. Unsupervised classification (Maximum Likelihood) in ArcGIS 10.5 categorized the landscape into four classes: deep water, shallow water, vegetation, and settlement. The findings reveal alarming trends: deep-water coverage declined from 46% (1980) to 16% (2020), a loss of 51 km² (1.28 km²/year), while shallow water expanded from 32% to 66% (54 km² gain). Vegetation decreased by 17 km² (15% to 6%), and settlements grew by 9 km² (5% to 11%). The buffer zone exhibited similar patterns, with accelerated settlement encroachment post-2000. These changes reflect unsustainable land-use practices, including wetland conversion for agriculture and unplanned urbanization, threatening biodiversity, fisheries, and the haor’s hydrological balance. Key drivers include population growth, sedimentation, and deforestation. To mitigate further degradation, the study recommends enforcing Ramsar Convention protocols, restoring 5–7 km² of lost vegetation, and implementing satellite-assisted monitoring with < 5% error margins. The findings underscore the urgency of integrating geospatial data into wetland management policies to ensure sustainable conservation of this critical ecosystem. Information on land use and land cover change study is very useful to local government and planners for the betterment of future sustainable development.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Md. Deluar Hossen Rumon
AU  - Shakibul Islam
AU  - Sumaiya Afroj
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/11/18
TI  - Identification of Land Cover Changes of the Tanguar Haor over the Last 40 Years Using Landsat Satellite Image in GIS
BT  - Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Engineering Research, Innovation, and Education 2025 (ICERIE 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 408
EP  - 416
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-884-4_49
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-884-4_49
ID  - Rumon2025
ER  -