Dynamics and drivers of land use and land cover changes in BangladeshXXuauthorSShresthaauthorHGilaniauthorM KGummaauthorB NSiddiquiauthorA KJainauthorBangladesh has undergone dramatic land use and land cover changes (LULCC) in recent years, but no quantitative analysis of
LULCC drivers at the national scale exists so far. Here, we quantified the drivers of major LULCC in combination with
biophysical and socioeconomic observations at the sub-district level. We used Landsat satellite data to interpret LULCC from
2000 to 2010 and employed a Global SurfaceWater Dataset to account for the influences of water seasonality. The results suggest
that major LULCC in Bangladesh occur between agricultural land and waterbodies and between forest and shrubland. Exclusion
of seasonal waterbodies can improve the accuracy of our LULCC results and driver analysis. Although the gross gain and loss of
agricultural land are large on the local scale, the net change (gross gain minus gross loss) at a country scale is almost negligible.
Climate dynamics and extreme events and changes in urban and rural households were driving the changes from forest to
shrubland in the southeast region. The conversion from agricultural land to standing waterbodies in the southwest region was
mainly driven by urban household dynamics, population growth, distance to cities and major roads, and precipitation dynamics.
This study, which is the first effort accounting for water seasonality and quantifying biophysical and socioeconomic drivers of
LULCC at the national scale, provides a perspective on overall LULCC and underlying drivers over a decadal time scale and
national spatial scale and can serve as a scientific basis for developing land policies in Bangladesh.AgricultureGIS Techniques/Remote SensingWater Resources2020-04SpringerArticle