Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

Vol 27, Issue 2, 2021; Page No.(937-946)

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF LAND COVER CHANGES FOR HILLA RIVER BASIN, IRAQ

Hussein A.M. Al-Zubaidi, Isra’a Sadi Samaka, Zaid Abed Al-Ridah, Ahmed Samir Naje and Ali Chabuk

Abstract

In all parts of the world, vegetation cover has undergone continuous changes, especially in areas with high population density, as a result of population activities and growth. Since Land Cover (LC) may differ and continue to change, the direction of this change has become important in environmental studies. This study focused on monitoring the changes that occurred in LC patterns of the Hilla River basin and Babylon Governorate, Iraq for a period from 2013-2019.LC were characterized on a regional scale based on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) categories (water, soil, plants) where no systematic LC studies were conducted previously (Hilla River Basin, Babylon Governorate, Iraq) using GIS tools and Landsat-8 Level- 2 surface reflectance datasets (2013-2019) that provide accurate information on land use and vegetation change. The results showed that soil, plants, and water occupied about 85%, 15%, and 1%, respectively. The increase in water in the regions of Babylon Governorate during the period of 2018-2019 was 24,4089 km2 compared to the previous years (positive trend in the maximum values of NDVI), improving the vegetation areas (an increase of 286.3791 km2). For soil, the increase in the period of 2014-2015 was 303.9399km2. Furthermore, LC indicated an increase in water area in 2013, 2014, and 2019 and a decrease in water in 2018, followed by 2016 and 2015. For soil, there was an increase in 2013 and 2016, and decrease in 2019, 2014 and 2018. For vegetation cover, a large percentage in 2019, 2018 and 2014 and decrease in 2016, 2013 and 2015 existed. As a result, the statistical analysis indicated that there is no large linear model between NDVI and the Hilla River flow rates.