Agricultural Development Options Review in Cambodia

Agricultural Development Options Review in Cambodia - Land Cover Mapping

Agriculture plays a central role in the economy of Cambodia. Nearly 85 % of the country's population depend on agricultural activities. Since the early 1970s, due to the war, little data have been collected and few studies on natural resources have been conducted. This has resulted in a large gap in the natural resources database of Cambodia. Improved knowledge of the natural resources and of past and present trends, the rate of change and elimination of contradictory information are crucial for gearing policy and strategy consideration to the resources base potential and for subsequent identification of strategies for agricultural projects and programmes.
Recent Cambodia land cover mapping using satellite imagery has aimed at providing data on natural resources for national and regional macro planning purposes. Up-to-date 1992/93 LANDSAT TM images available from the Thailand Remote Sensing Center provided a basis to continue the work initiated for the UNHCR in 1991 in north western provinces of Cambodia.
A series of products which provide both an "up-to-date" assessment of the land cover in Cambodia, as well as a historical perspective on the nature of land utilization. These maps and statistical data have been utilized for planning and monitoring the rehabilitation strategy and for determination of long term trends.

1992/93 Cambodia
Land Cover Map

address.jpg 4.33 K Contact : John S. Latham, Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO)
Viale delle Terme di Caracallo, Rome 00100, Italy
Phone: +39 6 5225 4026 Fax: +39 6 5225 3369
E-mail: John.Latham@fao.org | http://www.fao.org

Agriculture plays a central role in the economy of Cambodia. Nearly 85 % of the country's population depend on agricultural activities. Since the early 1970s, due to the war, little data have been collected and few studies on natural resources have been conducted. This has resulted in a large gap in the natural resources database of Cambodia. Improved knowledge of the natural resources and of past and present trends, the rate of change and elimination of contradictory information are crucial for gearing policy and strategy consideration to the resources base potential and for subsequent identification of strategies for agricultural projects and programmes.	Recent Cambodia land cover mapping using satellite imagery has aimed at providing data on natural resources for national and regional macro planning purposes. Up-to-date 1992/93 LANDSAT TM images available from the Thailand Remote Sensing Center provided a basis to continue the work initiated for the UNHCR in 1991 in north western provinces of Cambodia.	A series of products which provide both an "up-to-date" assessment of the land cover in Cambodia, as well as a historical perspective on the nature of land utilization. These maps and statistical data have been utilized for planning and monitoring the rehabilitation strategy and for determination of long term trends.

		1992/93 Cambodia Land Cover Map