Land Cover Change in Malino Sub Watershed, Jeneberang Watershed

Abstract

Abstract The increasing population and limited land resources will negatively impact the environment, potentially degrading the quality of river watersheds. In this article, we examine how population growth affects land use changes in the Malino Sub-watershed, which is part of the Jeneberang Watershed. The data used are land use data from 2014, 2019, and 2023, analyzed over the last 10 years using the Geographic Information System (GIS) approach and the overlay analysis method in ArcGIS software. These methods were applied to observe the land use changes and to calculate the quality of the river watershed using the Percentage of Vegetation Cover (PPV). The results of the research show that the land cover of the Malino Sub-watershed in 2023 includes 18,86% rice fields, 2,81% shrubs, 39,42% mixed dryland agriculture, 1,26% water bodies, 3,73% settlements, 31,77% secondary dryland forest, 1,83% plantations, and 0,33% open land. Over 10 years (2014 to 2023), there was a 17,91% decrease in forest area, a 16,01% decrease in plantations, a 13,22% decrease in shrubs, and a 74,46% decrease in open land. Meanwhile, there was a 62,05% increase in settlements, a 17,75% increase in rice fields, and a 9,31% increase in mixed dryland farming, as the population increased from 40.976 people in 2014 to 43.064 people in 2023. As a result, there has been degradation and a decline in watershed quality, as indicated by the Percentage of Permanent Vegetation Cover (PPV) in 2023, which was 34,58%, falling under the poor category. There was a 7,36% decrease in vegetation cover over the 10 years. Therefore, we recommend implementing both vegetative and mechanical conservation techniques.

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