Quantifying and Visualizing Land Cover Changes. An Analysis from the Hasi Region (Kosovo)

Anotace: Hasi region lies in the southwestern part of Kosovo and is dominated by karstic, ultramafic landscapes in Hasi Mts., and fluvial depositional landforms near White Drini and Erenik Rivers. Karstic landscapes are distinguished by the absence of surface waters and the karstic springs found at the foothills of Pashtrik and Hasi Mts. Broad-leaved forests and transitional woodland-shrubs cover most of middle and high-altitude areas. In the last two decades, the region has experienced landscape transformation resulting in Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) changes, where settlements are extended towards agricultural areas, mainly in lower part of the region. The GIS technique and statistical methods were useful in quantifying, mapping, and visualizing spatiotemporal changes of Land Cover data from Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) for 2000-2018, while Sankey diagram is used to visualize the magnitude and the flow of Land Cover Changes in the Hasi region over the last two decades. All the data were analyzed in the ArcMap 10.8 environment. The analysis shows that most of the Land Cover categories have experienced a transformation. From the total area of 30,939 ha, agricultural land decreased by 998 ha, artificial surfaces increased by 293%, and broad-leaved forest and sparsely vegetated areas experienced an increase. In contrast, transitional woodland-shrubs experienced the most change gaining and losing areas.