A land covers classification system for environment assessment in semi-arid regions of Iran

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.d. Student of Watershed Management, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

2 M.S. in Range Management, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

Abstract

Land degradation is a major danger which restricting different areas of Iran. Systematic description of the environment
for detection of environmental changes and the human-related causes and responses is essential in land cover change
study. Use of land cover data allow detection of where certain changes occur, what type of change, as well as how the
land is changing. Existing systems for classification of land cover is limited in the storage of the number of classes and is
often internally inconsistent. Therefore, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), developed the
land cover classification system (LCCS), a comprehensive parametric classification based upon systematic description of
classes using a set of independent quantifiable diagnostic criteria. With this approach land cover change detection
becomes possible at the level of conversion of a class, whereas modification within a certain class type becomes
immediately identifiable by a difference in classifier, or through the use of additional classifiers as is shown in a series of
examples illustrating the application of the approach to primarily vegetated areas. Our study showed this approach is
match with exist information and dates for land cover mapping in Iran.

Keywords