Land use and land cover modification and its impact on biodiversity and the ecosystem services in District Kurram, Pakistan

Abstract

Modifications of land use and vegetation cover are proceeding faster than ever before in human history, with a considerable reduction in forest cover in biodiversity hotspots. We investigated the land use and vegetation cover changes, their impact on biodiversity in the Kurram District, Pakistan, for 27 years (1988 to 2015). Temporal satellite imagery was processed using a supervised maximum likelihood classification algorithm in ARCGIS 10.1 to elucidate information regarding land use/land cover changes, with conducted structured interviews to obtain the inhabitants' perspectives on their dependence on ecosystems in Kurram, and how their environment is changing. We found that the land under forest cover and rangeland showed a remarkable decrease over the study period. This decline in rangeland and forest cover was a result of the increased of farmland, barren land. The study area is part of a biodiversity, with important medicinal, rare and unique plant species.