A comparison and classification of land use land cover to estimate their effect on environment: case study in Baghdad city

Abstract

Abstract This study compared and classified of land use and land cover changes by using Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) on two cities (Al-Saydiya city and Al-Hurriya) in Baghdad province, capital of Iraq. In this study, Landsat satellite image for 2020 were used for (Land Use/Land Cover) classification. The change in the size of the surface area of each class in the Al-Saydiya city and Al-Hurriya cities was also calculated to estimate their effect on environment. The major change identified, in the study, was in agricultural area in Al-Saydiya city compare with Al-Hurriya city in Baghdad province. The results of the research showed that the percentage of the green area from the total area in Al-Saydiya city is 34.95%, while in Al-Hurriya is 27.53%. Therefore, available results of land use and land cover changes can provide critical input to decision-making of environmental management and planning the future.