A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Remote Sensing and GIS

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

Similar to other watersheds in the Philippines, the Upper Marikina Watershed (UMW) is also exposed to rampant resources exploitation. The past experiences highlighted the seriousness of its continuous degradation and prompted the government and various sector of the society to undertake serious move to rehabilitate the watershed. This study attempts to integrate the various spatial and policy-based interventions in projecting the land use and land cover (LU/LC) of UMW. The Dyna-CLUE model, a spatially explicit model developed to project LU/LC was used in this study. The various interventions and managements strategies embodied in the government{u2019}s and private sector{u2019}s management plans were used as scenario parameters. Additionally, 12 hypothesized layers which were assumed to be the explanatory variables for the development of a particular LU/LC type in the region was used. The result of simulations of scenarios two and three obviously demonstrates the outcome if the planned policies are implemented faithfully. But the result of the simulation of scenario three provided the best result for having the largest amount of forests after the end of simulation. The reliability of the result of simulation is dependent on the amount of information that are used as scenario parameters hence, it is recommended that additional socio-demographic data be included on future applications since generally it is the human dimension that affects the LU/LC change.