Land use/land cover changes (LULCC) using remote sensing analyses in Rizal, Philippines

Changes in landscapes throughout time are primarily affected by a wide variety of factors, such as climatic conditions, anthropogenic activities, and even ecological successions. Land use land cover changes in the province of Rizal were traced from 1993 to 2020 using remotely sense images from Landsat collection 1-Level 1 (Landsat 4-5 (TM) C1- Level 1 & Landsat 8 OLI/ TIRS C1 Level 1) on USGS EarthExplorer to be able to assess the changes in the landscape, since it was subjected to high rates of urbanization, drought episodes and major deforestation practices throughout the years. The accuracy of the classified LULC maps through supervised and Maximum Likelihood classification in ArgGIS 10.8 were assessed, with overall accuracies ranging from 84 to 90, and generating Kappa coefficients that ranges from 0.73 to 0.82. The increase of vegetation cover was observed primarily due to secondary succession following episodes of drought and reforestation efforts in the landscape. The conversion of barren lands to settlements and agricultural lands were brought about by the increasing population rate and economic growth in the province, since it is one of the neighboring provinces of Metropolitan Manila. The LULCC of the province throughout the time span studied is a pivotal component in terms of environmental changes. By means of the detection of these changes, and with these data at hand, mitigation of future threats and the protection of the biodiversity of the area can be further strengthened through policy suggestions, with proper landscape planning and monitoring partnered with local government units and stakeholders.