Ecologia1996-4021xxxx-xxxxAcademic Journals Inc.10.3923/ecologia.2020.78.85PoudelSrijana MandalRam Asheshwar 22020102Background and Objective: Spatial dynamics in watershed is the key indicator of changes in beauty of Phewa lake, but such study is very limited so far done in Nepal. Therefore, this research was objectively conducted to assess the land use and land cover dynamics, explore the causes of land use land cover change and find the potential change in Phewa lake watershed. Materials and Methods: The satellite images of Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS of 2005 and 2018, respectively were downloaded from United States Geological Survey (USGS). The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference water index (NDWI) and normalized difference building index (NDBI) were calculated to prepare thematic maps using the support vector machine classification algorithm. Results: The result revealed that 7273.71, 6978.51, 1396.35, 407.43 and 349.29 ha were under forest, agriculture land, built up area, water body and degraded land respectively in 2005 with overall accuracy for 90.12% and kappa coefficient 0.86 whereas the classified image of 2018 showed that 8693.01, 4569.39, 2691.27, 401.94 and 49.68 ha were under forest, agriculture, built up, water body and degraded land respectively. The change detection matrix indicated that the highest land change was noticed from agriculture land to forest area (4.67%) and from agriculture to build up area (3.56%). Conclusion: Similarly, barren area (33.79 ha) near Phewa lake seems to be higher potential for encroachment and more than 40 ha agriculture land might be converted into build up area. The research findings will be useful for policy makers and scientific communities.]]>Dimyati, M., K. Mizuno, S. Kobayashi and T. Kitamura,199617931944Halefom, A., A. Teshome, E. Sisay and I. Ahmad,201810165174Fichera, C.R., G. Modica and M. Pollino,201245118Butt, A., R. Shabbir, S.S. Ahmad and N. Aziz,201518251259Dewan, A.M. and Y. Yamaguchi,2009150237349Beckerman, W.,199220481496Steininger, M.K.,199617927Zhu, G., Z. Tang, Z. Shangguan, C. Peng and L. Deng,2019124737749Bergseng, E., H.O. Ørka, E. Næsset and T. Gobakken,2015723345Schmidt, J.J., E. Piras and W. Gordon,201215445450Xiaolu, S. and C. Bo,201111238244Zewdu, S., K.V. Suryabhagavan and M. Balakrishnan,2016159197Fleming, B. and J.P. Fleming,2009282946Regmi, R.R., S.K. Saha and M.K. Balla,20144260267Regmi, R.R. and S.K. Saha,2015517081717Heyojoo, B.P. and P. Takhachhe,20142725728Bhatta, B.,2012Haque, M.I. and R. Basak,201720251263Bhatti, S.S. and N.K. Tripathi,201451445467Kumar, K.S., P.U. Bhaskar and K. Padmakumari,2012+ image.]]>4771778McFeeters, S.K.,19961714251432Zha, Y., J. Gao and S. Ni,200324583594Huang, C., L.S. Davis and J.R.G. Townshed,200223725749CBS.,20062006CBS.,20192019MoCTCA.,20192019UNDESA.,20142014Muzzini, E. and G. Aparicio,2013Rimal, B.,201126118129DFRS.,20152015CBS.,20142014MoFE.,20192019Tuladhar, A.R.,201918114Subedi, D.S. and K.R. Poudel,20138817Paudyal, K., H. Baral, L. Putzel, H. Bhandari and R.J. Keenan,20171988101