Study Of Landscape Change Between (1997,2021) In Bethlehem And Its Villages
Abstract
Political, social, and economic factors have altered the natural landscape over time, defining the Palestinian landscape. By analyzing two distinct aerial images from 1997 and 2021 and creating maps that demonstrate the change in the landscape over these years, this article discusses the landscape change that occurred in several towns in the city of Bethlehem (Khallet Al Haddad, Al-Masara, and Marah Ma'alla) over the course of the past twenty years. The purpose of this article is to determine how political, social, and economic conditions influence landscape change through spatial analysis using GIS.
From the aerial maps, we observed that the landscape structure—matrix, patches, and corridors—changed over time in this region, in order to identify the factors that affected the landscape of the area, it was necessary to calculate each category of landscape components. The findings reveal significant changes in the natural landscape, including a distinct loss of arable lands, open tree plantation areas at the expense of built-up areas as a result of population growth and haphazard construction as a result of a lack of oversight and planning and the expense of Frote Trees lands as a result of planting the arable lands and reclamation of scrub areas .
Keywords :
Ecology ,Landscape change, land cover; GIS, Bethlehem.
Introduction
Landscape change is something that should always happen and cannot be prevented by humans. However, regardless of the circumstances, humans have caused a significant change in the landscape in various parts of the world for a long time. Because many human- or natural-caused factors and actions alter landscapes over time, whether temporarily or permanently,
The Palestinian landscape has changed over time, from the Canaanite, Roman, and Ottoman periods to the British Mandate, Jordanian rule, and then Israeli rule. The most significant change in the landscape occurred after the Nakba in 1948. Changes in the landscape and perceptions of change in the landscape are especially significant in the Palestinian context.
The Palestinian territory was divided into A, B, and C land among the Nakba of 1948 and the Oslo Accords, each with its own set of building regulations, the appearance of settlements, and refugee camps, all of which have altered the form, size, and shape of the urban fabric. Additionally, the establishment of the Green Line has separated habitats and altered the ecosystems in the region (Bshara, 2021). This has restricted the area that Palestinians are permitted to expand and construct, with Area (A) accounting for approximately 18 percent of the West Bank and Area (B) accounting for approximately 22 percent. This is not ideal considering that as the population continues to expand, so do the demands for housing and land on which to build.
In the West Bank, the governorate of Bethlehem can be found immediately south of Jerusalem.(see Figure1) . These localities include Palestinian built-up areas, Israeli settlements, closed military areas, open tree plantation sites, forests, and construction sites. The administered communities include 40 Palestinian localities in the Bethlehem Governorate and 3 refugee camps. Bethlehem was divided into two areas as part of the Oslo Agreement: area A and area C. In the latter region, Palestinians must obtain permission from Israeli civil administration, which is thought to be quite difficult to obtain, before they can build, start a business, or receive any benefits.
Site Location
This study is made on the western part of the Bethlehem Governorate which is situated in the southern side of the West Bank between Jerusalem from the north and Hebron from the south. It consists of 3 villages, which are Khallet Al Haddad, Al-Masara,and Marah Ma'alla with a total area of approximately 4769 dunoms (geomolg ps) . See Figure(2).
Figure 1: Location Map of Bethlehem Governorate.
Figure 2: Location map of the study area.
Literature Review
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or manmade features. Landscape ecology is the study of patterns and processes of species assemblages and their interactions within landscapes. (2010 ,Seibert. "Archaeology and Landscape") And landscape change : is a dynamic process. Landscapes consist of innumerable configurations along a continuum and consist of a variety of elements such as riparian, granite or wetland areas. Landscape modification changes the spatial configuration of native vegetation.( McIntyre, Hobbs ,1999). According to (Anna M. Hersperger), the term "change of the natural landscape" refers to a comprehensive understanding of the various landforms, structures, and changes in land use and vegetation cover that give the impression that the natural landscape is dynamic and unstable due to a variety of circumstances. What it touches and what it concludes, the research landscape, is that it links topography and shifting patterns of geography to changes in vegetation cover. For instance, when land management and the intensity of agriculture were focused on in one location, migration and abandonment increased in the opposite location. One continuous scene depicts the growing use and subsequent abandonment.
Models of landscape change have emerged as landscapes are the primary location where the effects of society and nature interact. In order to fully comprehend the complexity of the system under study, landscape change studies, which have a long history in the landscape environment, require an interest in interdisciplinary work and integration. The landscape environment's current contribution to solving real-world problems can be significantly enhanced by examining the drivers of landscape change.
Bender and Boehmer, in 2005 two case studies of a cultural landscape in Southern Germany was published . They also gathered additional data for related studies and compared it to the situation in Palestine. The study aims to develop appropriate methods for analyzing and quantifying the landscape's transformation since 1850. Using cadastral maps and land registers, methods were derived from geographical landscape change analysis and rendered at the land plot level using GIS. The two case studies emphasize that a method that uses a land record-based GIS and is based on
the level of a land plot yields useful results that are relevant to planning processes and nature conservation in changing cultural landscapes. This study examines how human activities have had far-reaching effects on contemporary landscapes, including changes in land use and land cover. The land use has undergone numerous transformations as a result of the intensification of agricultural production, and some uses have ceased to exist. (2005, Bender and Boehmer)
Based on a comparison of cartographic maps, Bürgi and M. Hersperger's study documents the changes for the decades 1930–1956, 1957–1976, and 1977–2000. Based on document analysis, a list of 73 possible driving forces is compiled. 52 of them were identified as relevant primary drivers for the documented landscape changes after further document analysis and expert interviews. We discovered that urbanization was the most significant change process across all three eras. Greening has overtaken agricultural intensification in recent years in terms of importance. In all three periods, the economic, political, and overall driving forces for landscape changes are more significant than those for urbanization. The most significant driving forces are canonal, followed by national, local, and global driving forces. By demonstrating a method for quantifying the major driving forces groups (socioeconomic, political, cultural, technological, and natural/spatial driving forces) to landscape change. As a result, when studying the landscape, we ought to investigate the contribution of major driving forces groups and their effect on landscape change. And to get a better understanding of the landscape change, make use of every method we have. In addition, continue contributing to and improving land change research methods (Bürgi and M. Hersperger, 2009).
Regarding "Landscape Changing Trends (1741-1993) in Verestad, Sweden - characterized by multivariate analysis," which was published in 1997 and aimed to demonstrate the value of the multivariate method of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) on data related to landscape elements, it also attempted to illustrate landscape dynamics and the relative trends of change. In order to carry out the analysis, the data were summarized into five major land cover groups: (1) composite Suitable for agriculture and pastures, (2) open semi-natural grasslands, (3) wooded pastures, (4) water, and (5) Forest / remaining land. These data were retrieved from retrospective studies that were based on the interpretation of aerial imagery and old cadastral
maps and covered 56 selected small villages in Verestad, which is located in the southern part of Sweden. The studies covered three time periods. As a result, the majority of small villages' landscapes have become non-rural, consisting of closed forests and fragmented rural areas dominated by cultivated grasslands rather than the more open rural landscape of fields and semi-natural grasslands. There is a negative correlation between the proportion of semi-natural grasslands and forests and the scale and distribution of small villages along major axes over time, indicating a reduction in complexity. In the rural landscape of Virestad, it has been demonstrated that PCA is a useful tool for simplifying complex landscape data sets and indicating the nature of change in terms of dynamics of spatial organization and direction of change. There were three distinct types of small villages with varying levels of development identified in the analysis: A) A substantial change from semi-open rural landscapes to closed non-rural forest landscapes; ( B) Intermediate change, as small villages had always
Figure 3: The spatial distribution of the three distinguished hamlet types in the parish The hamlets with major change or more closely related to the forest landscape (types A and B) are dominating the landscape picture and are mainly aggregated in the marginal areas.
After finding the site's location, learn about the landscape features there and what kind of land cover it has. based on the adoption of the corine classification system (see Figure 4), which divided the land uses into four categories; to look into actual physical changes. As a result, collecting photo and aerial photos taken from Geomolg of the site between 1997 and 2021(see figures 5-9) have been collected and analyzed using GIS 10.5 to create a land use database that provides information on the state of the landscape.
In addition, these photographs were utilized for the Data Analysis phase, which involved digitizing them using GIS (see figures 10&11), measuring the size and number of change areas in the landscape classes, and using an overlay between the landscape classes for the two years for the final phase; which is the phase of calculation.
Following the analytical and inductive cover map 1997-2021 approach, a matrix and diagrams that visually illustrate changes in landscape categories were created between the two stages to clarify the percentage of lost and acquired areas and the direction of this loss or gain.
Figure 4: Corine Classification
2021,geomolg
Figure 6: Khallet Al Haddad Khallet El Haddad Village Guide
Figure 5:Al-Masara Palestine blog
Figure 8: Aerial Photo 1997, geomolg
Figure 9 :Aerial Photo
Figure 10:Bethlehem Governorate, study area _1997 , Researcher, 2022
Figure 11:Bethlehem Governorate, study area _2021 , Researcher, 2022
Data Analysis Overlay Maps :
Figure 12 :Scrub Area - Overlay , Researcher, 2022
Figure 13 :Open Tree Plantation - Overlay , Researcher, 2022
Figure 14 :Fruit Trees - Overlay , Researcher, 2022
Land cover it not a steable term , it changes due to the surrounding circumstances affected mostly by human activities .The structural landscape pattern are matrix, corridor, and patches .(Dramstad W. E. et al., 1996; Forman R. and Godron M., 1986). The increasing in the patch numbers can be noticed, as the total numbers between the two years has doubled , but also there is a decrease in some of the patches numbers . It increased from 4101 to 8618 patches in total . Overall, the numbers of patches increased as mentioned earlier almost in all classes. (see Figure 19,20)
Figure 18: Chart of Gains and Losses.
Data
Analysis number of patches :
Figure 19: : Table of the number of patches.
Figure 20: Chart of the number of patches.
Figure 21: Matrix Table.
In year 1997, the dominant class was the scrub area. The scrub area in the chosen site was regarded as the matrix, within which patches of other landscape classes could be found.
06.Results and Discussion
Results and Discussion
From 2968.963 donum in 1997 to 2904.579 donum in 2021, the scrub area has decreased. The majority of the decrease (loss) in the scrub has been converted into Palestinian construction areas, fruit trees, open tree plantations, and paved and unpaved roads. However, it gained from open tree plantations, arable land, and fruit trees.Despite this decrease, scrub area continues to be considered as the matrix. And the number of patches increased as shown in the table as a result of changing in the use of lands .(see Figure 21,22)
Figure 21: Area Chart .
Figure 22: Table of Patches and areas
The Palestinian built-up area in 1997 has expanded dramatically from 106.39 donum in 1997 to 270.431 dunum in 2021 ,Most of the increase (gain) from scrub area,arable land, open tree plantation and fruit trees,And the number of patches increased as shown in the table as a result of changing in the use of lands .(see Figure 23,24)
23: Area Chart .
Figure 24: Table of Patches and areas
The fruit trees has increased from 246.267 donum in 1997 to 770.696 dunum in 2021 the. Most of the increase (gain) in the fruit trees was scrub area, arable land and open tree plantation. The decrease (loss) in the fruit trees has been converted to scrub areas, Palestinian build up areas and open tree plantation.And the number of patches increased as shown in the table as a result of changing in the use of lands .(see Figure 25,26)
25: Area Chart .
Figure 26: Table of Patches and areas
Figure
Figure
The arable land has decreased from 823.848 donum in 1997 to 172.105 dunum in 2021 the. Most of the decrease (loss) in the arable land has been converted to Palestinian build up areas, paved roads,unpaved roads, arable land, fruit trees, scrub area, construction area and open tree plantation. But it took (gain) from open tree plantation and scrub areas .(see Figure 27,28)
27: Area Chart .
Figure 28: Table of Patches and areas
The open tree plantation has decreased from 511.351 donum in 1997 to 320.374 dunum in 2021 the. Most of the decrease (loss) has been converted to scrub area, fruit trees, arable land paved roads ,unpaved roads and palestinian builtup area .But it took (gain) from arable and scrub areas.(see Figure 29,30) open tree plantation 59 82
29: Area Chart .
Figure 30: Table of Patches and areas
Figure
Figure
It is possible to observe and analyze the maps to observe the alteration in the sizes of the patches, particularly those that were initially relatively large. For instance, some patches of arable land have been fragmented and reduced in size, while other patches of fruit trees and residential land have grown in size as a result of their conversion from arable land to fruit trees land. whose patch numbers have skyrocketed between 1997 and 2021. The number of patches for the scrub area has increased, as shown in the tables. Figures (31) and (32) show that the areas of arable land have significantly shrunk in size.
LandUse1997 LandUse2021
A large size arable land patch
Became a lot of small sizes of different uses
Figure 31: Land cover 1997 map,researcher, 2022
Figure 31: Land cover 2021 map,researcher, 2022
Conclusión ;
In conclusion, the purpose of this study was to estimate the landscape change in a portion of the Bethlehem Governorate between 1997 and 2021 by defining various classes and ecosystems through the use of GIS and aerial photographs. A matrix table that showed the gain and loss in various lands was used to identify the changes. , this The Gains and Losses of each land use were depicted in the generated transition matrix. The number, density, and size of the patches all changed as a result of the analysis; studying each class's fragmentation. We can deduce, based on the matrix table data and the rates of gains and losses gathered from this study, that these changes are the result of economic, political, social, and political factors, such as unplanned urban growth and random building, which all contributed to the emergence of random and unplanned population growth. Because of this, the region also needs to keep a close eye on and protect environmentally sensitive areas like agricultural lands. In conclusion, as urban planners, we must study all of the preceding to comprehend landscape ecology, structure, function, and change in order to successfully navigate development or planning processes and decision-making.
References
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