A study on land
use change of Songkhla Lake Basin during a 12 year period(1982-1994)
aims to analyze the change in land use and factor affecting the change
within the framework of watershed classes 1,2,3,4 and 5 in the period.
The analysis include drafting maps based on land use and forest area
data of the years 1982, 1988 and 1994 and overlaying these maps on
watershed classification map of the Songkhla Lake Basin to determine the
change of land use in the using data of 1982 as bases. Trend of land use
was analyzed using Time Series method, and relationship among land use
types was determined by Multiple Regression and Stepwise
Regression.
Results of the
study reveal the following ratios of average areas for five land use
types in the Songkhla Lake Basin inclusive of urban area, agricultural
area, forest area, water source area and idle lands during 1982-1994.
Watershed class 1 area consists of 1 percent urban, 70 % agricultural
and 29% forest without water source or idle lands. Watershed class 2
area consists of 68% agricultural and 32%forested with no other types of
land use. Watershed class 3 area consists of 1% urban; 69% agricultural
and 30% percent forested with other types of land use. Watershed class 4
area consists of 2 % urban, 96 % agricultural and 2% forested without
other two types. And, watershed class 5 consists of 7 % urban, 64%
agricultural, 7% forested with 21% of water source area and one percent
of idle lands.
The change of
land use in all five watershed classes of the Songkhla Lake Basin does
not show any consistent trend. Therefore, it appears necessary to define
a proper direction on land use of the basin based on potential of each
area according to soil and water conservation principles so that it
would enhance the sustainable use and development of the basin in the
future.
