THE APPLICATION OF SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES FOR MONITORING MANGROVE FOREST IN YAMBYE TOWNSHIP, RAKHINE STATE, MYANMAR

摘要

The study area lies between north latitudes 19° 5′ to 19° 25′ and between east longitudes 93° 50′ to 94°5′. It is located in the northeastern part of Yambye Township, Rakhine State, and southwestern part of Myanmar. Wunbaik mangrove forest is one of the largest mangrove forests in Rakhine State. The purpose of this study was to monitor the changes of mangrove forest cover spatially and temporally from 1990 to 2013. The multispectral and temporal Landsast data of 1990 and 2013 with 30 meter resolution were used for the classification of forest cover in the study area. Visual interpretation techniques were employed in the study for monitoring and mapping mangrove cover changes of this area. The analysis of mangrove forest cover changes were carried out the use of change detection analysis based on ground check survey. Then, presentation of forest cover map and the results of change detection analysis for Wunbaik mangrove area. The result of this study is large amount of mangroves was lost by the encroachment of farming activities and illegal cutting of fuel wood collection in Wunbaik mangrove area. Dense mangrove area in 1990 was 16671.71 hectares (45.16 percent of Wunbaik mangrove area) and it decreased to 11893.19 hectares (32.22 percent of Wunbaik mangrove area) in 2013. Therefore, satellite remote sensing techniques can be an effective tool for researchers, planners, and provide important and useful information for many resource management decisions relating to the long term management of mangrove forests.