Author(s): Sabah Aljenaid, Ghadeer Mohamed Redhah Kathem and Nadir Abdulhamed
Article publication date: 2014-12-01
Vol. 32 No. 4 (yearly), pp. 200-212.
1776

Keywords

GIS, DPSIR, Driving Forces, Pressure, LULC.

Abstract

This study aims to map, examine and analyze the changes in Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) in the main islands of the Kingdom of Bahrain (Bahrain, Muharraq, Sitra) during the period from 1998 to 2012.DPSIR was used as a qualitative approach to analyze driving Forces-Pressures that are mainly affect the LULC changes. While the quantitative analysis of the driving forces and landuse change was done using GIS analysis. Four LULC categories were recognized )Built up, Agriculture, Barren and Wet land(.The results revealed that the total area of the main islands has increased from 709.5 km2 in 1998, to more than 767 km2 in 2012.Consequently, Built up areas were increased from 126.3 km2 to 266.9 km2, while the Agriculture areas were decreased from 72.5 km2 in 1998 to 66.1 km2 in 2012 as a result of the expansion of cities and residential areas establishment. The Barren areas were decreased from 409.6 km2 in 1998 to 326.4 km2 in 2012. DPSIR )Driving forces - Pressures - State - Impact -Responses(framework analyses indicated that the social )increase in population( and economic )increase in GDP( in the country were the main driving forces that exert different pressures on the environment and, as a consequence lead to impacts on LULC, and changed the state of the environment.