Doi Moi Economic Reforms and Land-Use/Land-Cover Changes in the Northern Vietnamese Uplands

Keywords: Remote Sensing, Vietnam, Agriculture, Globalization, Liberalization, LULC, Land-use, Land-cover
Abstract Type: Poster Abstract

Abstract

The introduction of Doi Moi, or renovation, led to a period of rapid economic liberalization in Vietnam during the late 80s and early 90s, and is responsible for exposing the Vietnamese economy to global markets and agribusiness. These reforms liberalized the economy, transformed land tenure systems, and fundamentally reshaped the agricultural sector with a focus on export-oriented growth. I hypothesize that these drastic economic reforms were accompanied by rapid land-use/land-cover (LULC) transformations as an intensified integration with the global marketplace took place. To track LULC changes associated with Doi Moi, a series of six Landsat 3, 5, and 8 Multi-spectral scanner and Thematic Mapper images from 1973 to 2022 have been analyzed using a supervised classification routine and the land cover types for each period mapped. Land-cover transformations were tracked temporally and spatially to analyze the extent and rate of change, with a focus on changes in agriculture land, cleared land, mountainous vegetation, and built-up area. Results indicate an intensification of rice production in lowland areas, a decrease of land clearing in upland areas, and increased built-up areas associated with Doi Moi.