ABSTRACT
The study investigates land-cover change in the Ha Tien Plain, once considered to be the last remaining extensive wetland area of seasonally inundated grassland in the Mekong Delta. For this purpose, two Landsat images recorded in 1991 and 2009, respectively, were classified using the C5.0 decision tree classifier. A subsequent change detection analysis revealed a significant decrease of 77% of the area classified as seasonally inundated grassland in 1991, mainly due to the conversion into agriculture, aquaculture, and forest. Since these wetlands support a high diversity of flora and a rich avifauna, there should be a focus on the protection of the last remnant patches of seasonally inundated grasslands in the Ha Tien Plain in order to preserve their biodiversity values and ecosystem functions.
