Land use/land cover (LULC) changes are among the most significant human-caused global variations affecting the natural environment and ecosystems. Pakistan’s LULC patterns have undergone huge changes since the 1900s, with no clear mitigation plan. This paper aims to determine LULC and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) changes as well as their causes in Pakistan’s Southern Punjab province over four different periods (2000, 2007, 2014, and 2021). Landsat-based images of 30 m × 30 m spatial resolution were used to detect LULC changes, while NDVI dynamics were calculated using Modis Product MOD13Q1 (Tiles: h24 v5, h24 v6) at a resolution of 250 m. The iterative self-organizing (ISO) cluster method (object meta-clustering using the minimal distance center approach) was used to quantify the LULC changes in this research because of its straightforward approach that requires minimal human intervention. The accuracy assessment and the Kappa coefficient were calculated to assess the efficacy of results derived from LULC changes. Our findings revealed considerable changes in settlements, forests, and barren land in Southern Punjab. Compared to 2000, while forest cover had reduced by 31.03%, settlement had increased by 14.52% in 2021. Similarly, forest land had rapidly been converted into barren land. For example, barren land had increased by 12.87% in 2021 compared to 2000. The analysis showed that forests were reduced by 31.03%, while settlements and barren land increased by 14.52% and 12.87%, respectively, over the twenty year period in Southern Punjab. The forest area had decreased to 4.36% by 2021. It shows that 31.03% of forest land had been converted to urban land, barren ground, and farmland. Land that was formerly utilized for vegetation had been converted into urban land due to the expansion of infrastructure and the commercial sector in Southern Punjab. Consequently, proper monitoring of LULC changes is required. Furthermore, relevant agencies, governments, and policymakers must focus on land management development. Finally, the current study provides an overall scenario of how LULC trends are evolving over the study region, which aids in land use planning and management.
IntroductionMitigation of water shortage has become a critical issue of the 21 st century and labeled as blue gold. The agriculture sector is ranked as the highest consumptive user of water in most of the countries. The water withdrawal from the total amount of water in developing counties is estimated nearly 81% while it is accounted for 71% globally. In addition, more than 55% of all the world's fresh water withdrawals are allocated towards irrigation use [1]. Reference evapotranspiration (ET o ) is the principal component of the global hydrological cycle which affects irrigation, water requirement and crops yield. It consists of evaporation and transpiration processes. The phenomenon in which water moves from the land surface to the atmosphere is called evaporation while transpiration is the process in which plant roots
Biomass as a renewable energy resource is a major topic on a global scale. Several types of biomass heat treatment methods have been introduced to obtain useful byproducts via pyrolysis. Microwaves are a practical replacement for conventional stoves and ovens to perform pyrolysis of biomass. Their rapid heating rate and user-friendliness make them a good choice for the pyrolysis process over conventional methods. The current study reviewed research articles that used microwaves for the pyrolysis process on different types of biomass. This study primarily provides comprehensive details about the pyrolysis process, especially microwave-assisted pyrolysis (MAP) and its feasibility for treating biomass. A systematic literature review, according to the PRISMA guidelines, was performed to find research articles on biomass treatment using MAP technology. We analyzed various research studies (n = 32), retrieved from different databases, that used MAP for pyrolysis on various types of biomass, and we achieved good results. The main goal of this study was to examine the usefulness of the MAP technique, comparing its effects on distinguished types of biomass. We found MAP’s effective parameters, namely, temperature, concentration of microwave absorber, moisture percentage of starting material and flow rate, microwave power and residence time of the initial sweep gas that control the pyrolysis process, and effect quality of byproducts. The catalytic agent in MAP pyrolysis was found to be useful for treating biomass, and that it has great potential to increase (nearly double) the production yield. Although MAP could not be used for all types of materials due to some challenges, it produced good results compared to conventional heating (pyrolysis) methods. We concluded that MAP is an effective method for reducing pyrolysis reaction time and improving the quality of value-added products. Also, MAP eliminates the shredding requirement for biomass and improves heating quality. Therefore, it is a viable method for reducing pyrolysis processing costs and should be applied on a larger scale than lab scale for commercialization.
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