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Land Use Change

The capacity to measure and report change in land use over time is critical to evaluating and monitoring trends in natural resource condition and the effectiveness of public investment in natural resource management.

The choice of method for reporting land use change generally depends on the problem being addressed, end use of the analysis, scale and accuracy of the data and an available time series. Where fine-scaled time-series data are available, spatial analysis can provide important insight into the nature of land use change.

Protocols for reporting land use change in an agricultural context should be capable of distinguishing the temporal characteristics of farming systems (eg rotations), seasonal variability and longer term industry and regional trends. Four broad approaches to measuring and reporting land use change are suggested (Smith and Lesslie 2005):

• Areal change: loss or gain in the areal extent.
• Transformation: the pattern of transition from one land use to another.
• Dynamics: rates of change and periodicity in areal extent or transformations.
• Prediction: modelling spatial or temporal patterns of change.

Currently, there are no formal methods to detect and report land use change in Australia, as there are for land use mapping. However, it is hoped that a set of generic protocols can be developed to allow for consistency in approaches and data collection procedures.

Listed below are examples of land use change detection and reporting work being carried out by Australian Collaborative Land Use Mapping Programme (ACLUMP) members. This area is expected to develop as a key aspect of the Programme.

Mapping Land Use Change in the Fitzroy River Catchment

In Queensland, a project conducted by the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Water with the support of the National Land & Water Resources Audit investigated ways to detect and map land use change in the Fitzroy Basin. The objectives of the project were to develop a methodology for mapping land use change and apply this to the Fitzroy catchment from 1999 to 2004. A further objective was to develop a method for detecting and mapping crop-pasture rotations. Several analytical techniques were explored, involving the use of satellite imagery, agricultural statistics, local expert knowledge and a statewide land cover dataset.

For more information on land use activities in Queensland, visit the Queensland Land Use Mapping Program (QLUMP) website.

Detecting Land Cover Change Using MODIS Imagery

BRS is investigating the use of the MODIS satellite Normalised Differences Vegetation Index (NDVI) data. Metrics of NDVI have been analysed to separate irrigated annual and perennial pastures, rice, summer and winter crops, fruit trees and grapes. Classification techniques include unsupervised classification, tree regression and crop growth stage (using Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Water analyses).

For more information on this project visit the Productivity and Land Cover page.

Land Use Change in the Lower Murray Region

BRS, the New South Wales Department of Natural Resources, the Victorian Department of Primary Industries and the South Australian Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation addressed land use change in the Lower Murray region in relation to irrigated horticulture, dryland cropping, vegetation clearing and areas reserved for nature conservation. Analyses using catchment scale land use data and regional data (using the SPREADII methodology) were compared. This project was funded by the National Land & Water Resources Audit.

Smith, J. and Lesslie, R. 2005. Land Use Data Integration Case Study: the Lower Murray NAP Region [PDF 3.4MB], Bureau of Rural Sciences, Canberra.