Impact assessment of land use change on surface temperature and agricultural productivity in Peshawar-Pakistan

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2019-11, Vol.26 (32), p.33076-33085
• Main Authors: Khan, Imran, Javed, Tehseen, Khan, Ahmad, Lei, Hongdou, Muhammad, Ihsan, Ali, Imad, Huo, Xuexi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural production; Agriculture; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Barley; Barren lands; Biodiversity; Cereal crops; Climate; Conservation of Natural Resources; Crops; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecological function; Ecosystem; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental science; Land cover; Land surface temperature; Land use; Pakistan; Population Growth; Productivity; Research Article; Sugar; Sugarcane; Temperature; Urban areas; Urban sprawl; Urbanization; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Wheat
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-019-06448-5

The profound appreciation of urban expansion and land use change (LUC) considerably influences the ecosystem functions, services, and biodiversity along with the local and regional climate. Land use has undergone an awful transformation due to rapid urbanization and population growth, which in turn increased land surface temperature (LST) in district Peshawar, Pakistan. The current study tends to capture the influence of land use on LST and agricultural productivity by employing multi-temporal, multispectral satellite data and agricultural production data during the selected years, i.e., 1996, 2003, and 2016. The results demonstrated that barren land considerably decreased while the urban area increased over time in all three phases. Furthermore, significant LST difference was found in different land cover units; e.g., barren land and urban area have the maximum, while water bodies followed by vegetation retain minimum LST in all three phases, i.e., 1996, 2003, and 2016. Similarly, the results from agricultural production revealed that except for wheat crops, which decreased by 7.54% during 1999–2003, the production of all major food crops increased during the selected years. However, the production of sugar cane and barley experienced considerable reduction during the selected years, except for barley, which increased by 22.86% during 2003–2016. The finding of this study provides guidance, policy recommendations, and reference for future researchers. Graphical abstract .