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

Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2012

In the past ten years, land use and land cover change was one of the biggest concerns of people because of the direct and immediate effect of this change is not only on economic sector but also on environment. Mapping land use and land cover at bei ng increasingly across regions in many scales. RS and GIS play an important role in land use and land cover change detection because of their accuracy and powerfulness. In this study, land use and land cover change were detected using RS and GIS in Tam Non g district, Phu Tho province, Vietnam. For the purpose, firstly, SPOT image of years 2003, 2008 and 2011 were acquired and pre - processed to get coordinate system for all images and better results for visualization and interpretation. Secondly, all the im ages, thus acquired, were classified using supervised classification approach, with maximum likelihood method. Thirdly, classified image results were reclassified using integration method; this work was done with the help of other available data and GIS so ftware. Next, change detection comparison was done employing pixel by pixel method to identify and extract information of land cover change in both tabulation and spatial form. Finally, the implication of the change on agricultural production was evaluated . The result of the study shows that change of land use occurred in different form between the years 2003, 2008 and 2011. The most striking change was observed in built up land which increased 723.35ha, from 2127.63 ha in 2003 to 2850.98ha in 2011. Likewi se, agriculture land suffered most from the change which lost 503.37 ha from 7870.23 ha between those years. The study also indicates that the change in land use and land cover, particularly agricultural land, had a slight effect on agricultural productions.