Land use change and its effect on biodiversity in Chiang Rai province of Thailand

Abstract

The Chiang Rai province of Thailand has experienced rapid deforestation and consequent land use change in recent years. This research carried out in Chiang Rai province simulated future land uses under three management scenarios and assessed their effect on biodiversity. The Dyna-CLUE model was used to simulate land uses of 2029 according to the management scenarios, and their effect on biodiversity was analyzed by the GLOBIO3 model. About 4% of total area of the province was deforested within 2002–2009 and has a possibility to lose more, that is, 7% by 2029. If this rate of deforestation continues, then biodiversity will be affected as shown by reduced ‘mean species abundance’ of 0.45 at present to 0.38 by 2029, whereby highly threatened area can be increased up to 15% of the total land area. Hence, protecting locations with higher biodiversity value can be efficient in conserving biodiversity.