REMOTE SENSING INVESTIGATION OF LAND USE STATUS OF IRRAWADDY RIVER BASIN

The Irrawaddy River is the largest river in Myanmar, with a drainage area accounting for 60% of Myanmar's land area. Due to specific reasons, the basic geographic information of the basin has been very scarce. The land use is the direct reflect of human activities in the nature. The investigation of land use is of great significance to the studies of the basin. This research realizes the investigations and studies on the current status of land utilization around Irrawaddy River basin based on remote sensing, and analyzes the characteristics of land utilization around the drainage basin. It is found that the forest coverage rate of the Irrawaddy River Basin is relatively high, and the coverage of forest land has reached 53.15%. Cultivated land and grassland followed, accounting for 21.32% and 19.99% of the total area, respectively. The cultivated land is composed of paddy field and dry land, mainly distribute in low-lying flat plains. The research results are of great significance for clarifying the status of land use in the Irrawaddy River Basin.