Effect of land use change on water balance in the Sekong, Sesan and Srepok (3S) Basin | |
| Author | Thapa, Srijana |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.NR-15-12 |
| Subject(s) | Land use--Geographic information system--Cambodia Water balance--Cambodia |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Natural Resources Management, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. NR-15-12 |
| Abstract | Land use changes are associated with the changes in the watershed hydrology to a great extent. Human induced activities are the main fac tors causing land use change. Agriculture intensification is being practice d in an alarming rate that poses a major challenge in the land and water resources management at a basin level a s well as national level. Lack of strong cooperation mechanism and in formation sharing among Lao PDR, Vietnam and Cambodia at a basin level, further accelerates this problem. In this study, land use change was detected using Geographical Information System (GIS) and ERDAS IMAGINE 2014 software and its effect on water balance was analyzed with a hydrological model SWAT. It employed land use maps of three time periods, 1997, 2003 and 2010. The policies on land and water resources were reviewed to lessen the land use change effects on water and to recommend strategies f or the effective management of land and water resources, SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis was conducted. The detection of land use change indicated a significant conversion of forest, grassland, shrubland a nd wetland to agri cultural land because people are highly dependent on agriculture to improve their livelihood. The results from SWAT model indicated increase in surface flow due to increas e in urban areas. Likewise, evapotranspiration and water yield increases due to incre ase in agricultural areas and forest areas. Moreover , increase in rangeland areas resulted in the increase in t he base flow and percolation . The result from policy review showed that the basin level policy for land and water management has lots of strengths , which can be used to exploit opportunities, to overcome the weaknesses and to avoid the threats to the basin. The results indicated that the effects of change mainly on forest areas and agricultural areas had a greater impact on the hydrological compone nts of a basin. This implies th e human activities and gaps in the policy need more consideration . So the policy makers must consider updating the policies regarding forest conservation, building coordination mechanisms at community level, basin level and nation level. |
| Year | 2015 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. NR-15-12 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Natural Resources Management (NRM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Shrestha, Rajendra Prasad |
| Examination Committee(s) | Shrestha, Sangam;Vilas Nitivattananon |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2015 |