GIS Assessment of Land Cover Flows in North Macedonia using Corine Land Cover Database in the Period 2000 – 2018

ABSTRACT The land use (LU) and land cover (LC) categories in the North Macedonia are characterized with great heterogeneity. Dominantly present are forests and semi-natural areas with 60%, and agricultural areas with 35%. Based on the Corine Land Cover (CLC) database, analyzed are the changes in three periods, 2000-2006, 2006–2012, and 2012- 2018. Quantified are basic input information which are analyzed on the total territory of the country and separately for the eight planning regions of the country: Skopje (I), Eastern (II), Southeast (III), Northeast (IV), Pelagonia (V), Vardar (VI), Southwest (VII) and Polog (VIII). A number of 2522 types of change (CLC classification level 3) were identified across North Macedonia for the three-time period or if we consider them as aggregate data in 18 years we can see LC change processes of around 900 km2 which is 3.53% of the total area of the country. Applying them to the conversion table, seven major change processes (LC flows) were identified such as urbanization, intensification, and extensification of agriculture, afforestation, deforestation, water bodies’ construction and management, and other changes of which three main directions of change have been of interest. As a dominant change, deforestation is a result of two destructive factors: illegal woodcuts and forest fires. Following is afforestation, which as a process of expansion of the forest area is due primarily to the activities of the Public enterprise for forestry. Urbanization was marked by the process of decentralization (2005) and initiated by the Law on Local Self-Government (2002), legal acts by which many of the competencies of the central government have been transferred to the local level, a level that affects cities and urban regions. Observing the spatial distribution of CLC change processes most conversions from LULC to another took place in the Pelagonia, Southwest, and Vardar planning region, and the least affected are Northeast, Eastern, and Polog planning regions. As such, the main purpose of the present study was to document major LULC trends in North Macedonia during the three periods. Keywords: GIS, Land cover Flows, LC changes, CLC; North Macedonia