ABSTRACT
The analysis of land use dynamics in a mountainous Nan province for the period of 1995- 2012 made it possible to identify the principal factors leading to deforestation in Northern Thailand. The land use was monitored through interpreting space imagery from the Landsat 7 ETM and the Thai Theos/Thaichote satellite and using land cover data granted by the Land Development Department of the Kingdom of Thailand. Compared to the FAO conclusion about the suspension of deforestation it is shown that profound changes in land use took place in several mountainous regions of the country, namely sharp reduction of forest areas and the increase of perennial plantations, fields, orchards and pastures, as well as the urban areas. The main types of land use changes in mountainous and lowland regions of the Nan province were identified. The deforestation was particularly intensive during 2009-2012. As a result, the destructive natural-anthropogenic processes, i.e. erosion and landslides, became more active within mountainous landscapes provoking the increase of sediment discharge and the risk of floods. Key factors of deforestation in the mountainous regions of Thailand which is a vibrant economy nowadays are the transformation of traditional environmentally sustainable systems of subsistence economy and their substitution for the intensive systems typical for the market economy.
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