EVALUATING THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES OF LAND USE AND LAND COVER CHANGES IN THE RAPIDLY GROWING INDUSTRIAL TOWN OF RANIGANJ, WEST BENGAL
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
Land use and land cover (LULC) changes are critical indicators of environmental transformations driven byboth natural and anthropogenic factors. This study examines LULC transitions in Raniganj, West Bengal, from2000 to 2020, a region historically impacted by extensive coal mining and industrial expansion. Using remotesensing data from Landsat 5 TM (2000) and Landsat 8 OLI (2020), along with Geographic Information System(GIS)-based analysis, this research quantifies spatial and temporal changes in major land categories,including vegetation, agricultural land, built-up areas, water bodies, and opencast mining zones. The studyreveals significant declines in vegetation (-6.349%) and increases in built-up areas (+5.039%) and miningactivities (+1.082%), primarily driven by urbanization, industrialization, and resource extraction. Atransition matrix analysis highlights the conversion of agricultural land to built-up areas and opencastmining, leading to environmental degradation and socio-economic shifts. Accuracy assessment using an errormatrix and Kappa coefficient (0.62) confirms the reliability of classification results. The findings underscorethe need for sustainable land management policies to mitigate the adverse effects of industrial expansion andensure balanced development.
| Pages | 01-06 |
| Year | 2025 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Volume | 3 |
