GIS based land suitability assessment along Laos- China border

Assessment of the forest land use change and proposed land suitability for tea for the area along Laos - China Border were the main purpose of this research paper. An integrated GIS-based analysis system (IGAS), supporting assessment of forest land-use and land suitability for the study area where along Laos-China border was developed. Multi criteria analysis and system dynamics techniques were used to assess forest land use and land suitability and to forecast potential land-use for tea. The total study area is estimated at 10 325.07 km2 according to the field data collection and data analysis. The area of current forest cover decreased rapidly from 6337.33 km2 (61.38%) in 1992 to 5106.28 km2 (49.46%) in 2002 in the study area. The current forest was mainly transferred to potential forest and permanent agriculture especially to rubber plantation areas even in the National Conservation Biodiversity Conservation Areas. The main causes of forest land use change are poverty. In order to address the problems, land suitability classification for tea was developed based on the multi-criteria. And finally two options of land suitability classification for tea for the study areas were developed. © 2010 Northeast Forestry University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.