LAND USE AND LAND COVER DYNAMICS AND FACTORS AFFECTING IT IN THE CENTRAL HIMALAYA
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This paper examines land use and land cover dynamics in the Central Himalaya using twelve Landsat satellite images from 1991 and 2021. It also delves with the factors affecting land use and land cover change in the Central Himalaya. Processed with specialised remote sensing/GIS software (ArcGIS 10.8), false colour composites were generated, and a supervised classification with a maximum likelihood process was employed to create a land use and land cover map. Eight land use classes were identified, including snow cover, alpine pasturelands, temperate forest, tropical broadleaf forest, agricultural land, barren land, built up areas, and water bodies. Forests dominate the region (56.7%), followed by glaciers (20%) and alpine pasturelands (9.67%). Notably, snow cover and alpine pasturelands decreased by 21.59% and 7.28 %, respectively. Two land use categories – water bodies and barren land increased by above 100% whereas agricultural land increased by 60.59%. There was a nominal increase in subtropical forests while temperate forests cover remained the same with an accuracy of 86.89 % (Kappa Coefficient). In some patches, temperate forests decreased due to the expansion of pine forests towards high altitudes. Warming of middle altitudes and higher reaches noticed as the major factor of decreasing snow cover. Population growth, out-migration, climate change, and natural hazards were other primary reasons for land use and land cover change.
| Pages | 35-43 |
| Year | 2024 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Volume | 2 |
