Geospatial Techniques in Advancing Land-Change Science and Management

Dear Colleagues,

Land change is one of the most ancient human-induced environmental impacts on the biosphere. Changes in land systems have major repercussions for climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem services, land degradation, and the vulnerability of human–environment systems. For instance, land degradation is increasing and affecting areas that more than one-third of the global population inhabit. Due to this phenomenon, a significant proportion of agricultural land becomes unproductive every year. Climate change is likely to exacerbate the impacts of land change, especially in coastal regions, due to their combined effects on water security, land availability, and food security. Therefore, efficient land management is a prime concern around the world.

Land-change science has emerged as an essential element of global environmental change and sustainability science. However, this field of science has been handicapped by the unavailability of required data, and methodological and analytical difficulties. Mapping and monitoring land change is an exciting field of remote sensing technology. Although early land change assessments were primarily based on expert judgment, over the last few decades, remote sensing techniques have become an essential tool to map and monitor various aspects of land change at different spatial and temporal scales. Geospatial techniques are effective and efficient tools for assessment, monitoring, and mapping lands. An accurate assessment of land change and management can help scientists, policymakers, and stakeholders to improve the decision-making process for better managing lands.

We would like to invite you to submit review articles as well as original articles on one or more of the following topics:

• Land change science for global environmental change;
• Characteristics of land degradation;
• Urban expansion and land cover change;
• Monitoring and mapping wetland loss;
• Issues related to the application of remote sensing technologies for the identification and mapping of land degradation features;
• Different methods of remote sensing-based land change assessment;
• Remote sensing in coastal hazard mapping and monitoring;
• Applications of machine learning algorithms and remote sensing data in land change assessment;
• Spatial and temporal pattern of soil degradation;
• Land degradation risk assessment;
• Integrating geostatistical and remote sensing data for assessing land change;
• Response to land degradation;
• Monitoring land change using both optical and SAR remote sensing;
• Impacts of sea-level rise on coastal land change;
• Mapping and monitoring of coast-line change;
• Monitoring land cover and land-use change;
• Mapping and monitoring soil salinity and soil moisture;
• GIS application in land management;
• GIS application in land policy and decision making;
• Spatial analytics in land change science and land management.

Dr. Md. Shahinoor Rahman
Dr. Mohammed Sarfaraz Gani Adnan
Dr. Steven Louis Rubinyi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.