Using Satellite Data for Assessing the Land Use and Land Cover Change in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Coordination of Information on the Environment Land Cover (CORINE, CLC) provides information on the biophysical characteristics of European land cover. The CLC has become the primary spatial data source on land for Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). B&H became part of the CLC in 1998, after which databases were produced for the years 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018. In updating the CLC database, the standard procedure as well as CLC nomenclature were used. The main source of remote sensing data was high-quality satellite imagery covering different seasons. In CLC2006 the single date Landsat TM was replaced by two satellite images IRS and SPOT-4. In CLC2012 IRS/ResourceSat and SPOT-4 and SPOT-5 were used. Sentinel-2 satellite imagery - the 1st European satellite dedicated to land monitoring was used in CLC2018. This paper examines the land use and land cover real changes that occurred in B&H in the periods 2000–2006, 2006–2012, and 2012–2018 and aims to present the importance of having high-quality satellite data for understanding land cover and its dynamics. In addition, difficulties encountered and challenges in understanding land cover classes are discussed.