Comparative Study on Changes of Croplands Between North Korea and South Korea During 1990–2015

Abstract

Studies on long-term change of cropland is of great significance to the utilization of land resources and the implementation of scientific agricultural policies. The Korean Peninsula, adjacent to China, plays an important role in the international environment of Northeast Asia. The Korean Peninsula includes South Korea and North Korea-two countries that have a great difference in their institutions and economic developments. Therefore, we aim to quantify the spatiotemporal changes of croplands in these two countries using Landsat Thematic Imager (TM) and Operational Land Imager (OLI) imagery, and to compare the differences of cropland changes between the two countries. This paper take full advantage of ODM approach (object-oriented segmentation and decision-tree classification based on multi-season imageries) to obtain the distribution of croplands in 1990 and 2015. Results showed that the overall classification accuracy of cropland data is 91.10% in 1990 and 92.52% in 2015. The croplands were mainly distributed in areas with slopes that were less than 8° and with elevations that were less than 300 m in the Korean Peninsula. However, in other region (slope > 8° or elevation > 300 m), the area and proportion of North Korea's croplands were significantly higher than that of South Korea. Croplands significantly increased by 15.02% in North Korea from 1990 to 2015. In contrast, croplands in South Korea slightly decreased by 1.32%. During the 25 years, policy shift, economic development, population growth, and urban sprawl played primary roles for cropland changes. Additionally, the regional differences of cropland changes were mainly due to different agriculture policies implemented by different countries. The achievements of this study can provide scientific guidance for the protection and sustainability of land resources.

Land Cover and Land Use Mapping of the East Asian Summer Monsoon Region from 1982 to 2015

“…The transition from croplands to forests has dominated the Korean Peninsula (Figure 7c) since the year 2000 because of efforts to restore forests in North Korea. In contrast to North Korea, the reduction in croplands and forests due to urbanization reported in South Korea [75][76][77] was inconsistent with results in the present study, which revealed this was rather a minor transition (Figure 7). As in South Korea, croplands abandonment occurred in Japan due to changes in the structure of the population, such as aging and migration from rural areas [78][79][80].…”

Study on Urban Spatial Pattern Based on DMSP/OLS and NPP/VIIRS in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

“…Some studies of urbanization development have focused mainly on the transformation of economic life and public life [6], urban internal spatial structure [7], and urban economic cooperation and coordinated development [8]. Many studies of the DPRK have focused mainly on its economy [9], politics [10], agriculture [11], food security [12], land use [13], natural environment [14], and military strategic status [15]. However, relatively few studies have used remote-sensing data to reveal the grid-scale urban spatial pattern of the DPRK and compare it with other countries.…”

Cropland Mapping and Change Detection: Toward Zimbabwean Cropland Inventory

“…The world population is projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050 [5], hence improved agricultural land production will be needed to meet such global demands. With the highest population growth rate, Africa is anticipated to account for more than half of the world's population between 2015 and 2050 hence resulting in escalation of per capita consumption rates [2], [4], [5].…”

“…As stated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, croplands cover about 12% of Earth's ice-free land [2], [4]. Foley et al [2] and Gibbs et al [3] at some point indicated that agriculture was expanding mainly in the tropics, where about 80% of the new croplands were predicted to be substituting forests.…”

“…Change detection analysis encompasses a wide assortment of processes utilized to identify, describe and quantify differences in the state of an object or phenomenon by observing it at different times but same location [10], [36]. It is vital for the sustainable development of economy and environment [4]. It is crucial to comprehend and characterize the dynamics occurring on croplands to assist in assessing food security scenarios at different levels and times especially for areas with food insecurity.…”