Forest Loss Patterns, Accessibility Associations, and Community Perceptions in Coastal Floodplain Ecosystems

Coastal floodplains face unprecedented threats from deforestation driven by global environmental change. The Sre Ambel floodplain, located in the southwestern coastal region, is one of Cambodia’s main floodplains and plays a critical role in maintaining ecosystem functions pivotal to wildlife and human communities. Over the past three decades, however, it has been at risk due to forest cover loss, which threatens ecosystem processes. This study aimed to investigate temporal and spatial floodplain forest cover loss over the past 24 years using remote sensing data, assess the drivers of deforestation through community social research and a literature review, and assess the anthropogenic influence on deforestation through spatial nonlinear modeling. Approximately 23% (11,182 ha) of forest cover in the Sre Ambel floodplain was lost during 2001–2024. Spatial modeling identified nonlinear conditional associations between mapped forest loss and distances to roads, rivers, villages, and houses. Spatial-block bootstrap analyses supported higher predicted loss probability near roads and at 2 km versus 5 km from village centers, whereas selected river- and house-distance contrasts were not robust. Forest loss peaked during 2006–2010 and again during 2016–2024. Respondents most frequently perceived agricultural expansion, settlement development, land grabbing, timber extraction, and resort development as key deforestation pressures. These results can help guide further floodplain assessment, conservation, restoration, and sustainable land-use planning.