Landscape Ecology and Water Management

Landuse and land cover change have significant impact on the environment of a river basin and has gained considerable attention. It has a strong effect on the surroundings where increasing agriculture as well as urban areas has led to the rapid deforestation and changes in the ecology. Present study involves detection of landuse and land cover change in a part of Narmada river of Madhya Pradesh where rapid changes such as irrigation planning is leading to changes in the land cover. Hence, change detection in the present landform and probable changes in the near future is required for planning and management. Landsat images of 1990 (TM), 2000 (ETM⁺) and 2011 (LISS-III) were used for the classification and future landuse prediction. Supervised Fuzzy C-Mean classification was applied to generate major five classes of water body, built-up area, natural vegetation, agricultural land and fallow land. Overall accuracy for all images was above 85 %. The Markov Chain model was used for prediction. The classified Landsat images of 1990 and 2000 were used to predict the 2011 landuse with Markov Chain which was again validated with the 2011 classified image. The prediction of 2020 and 2030 land use were done to see the future change. The spatial accuracy achieved for the prediction was about 92.5 %. The results illustrate an increase in agricultural land and urban area with the decrease in natural vegetation.

The Abay Gorge, along Gohatsion–Dejen road, in Ethiopia witness frequent landslides during the rainy season. The natural stability of slopes has been disturbed due to the road construction, the fragile geological conditions, groundwater and uncontrolled surface run-off which favor landsliding during rainy season. Such landslide hazard has resulted into frequent disruption in traffic movement and endangered the people life and their property in the area. Rock fall, toppling, debris slide and rotational failure of colluvial material are some of the common land instability manifestations observed in the area. Mitigating landslide risk disaster is of prime concern and through the present study attempts are made to delineate the landslide hazard prone zones in the study area. For this purpose Landslide Hazard Zonation (LHZ) mapping using integrated Remote Sensing and GIS technique was carried out so as to classify the land surface into zones of varying degree of hazard. Thus, the landslide hazard zonation mapping produced through present study will be useful to the planners and engineers to know the zones which are prone for landslide disaster and they may evolve suitable remedial measures for disaster risk reduction and management.

For the present study, “Weighted Linear Combination (WLC)” technique was used to prepare the Landslide hazard zonation map. In WMC technique, each factor was multiplied by its derived weight and later the results were added to produce the landslide hazard map.

WLC helps to handle the problem of integration of different data layers with heterogeneity and certain degree of uncertainty. The method used is very useful to integrate single factor maps with each other and thus to produce a multi-thematic map. This model requires multi spatial data on a target area and then can be extrapolated in to a larger area as required. For landslide hazard zonation the major event controlling parameters which were considered are; geology, groundwater conditions, drainage, slope, geologic structure, aspect, and land use/land cover.

For landslide hazard zonation five relative classes, namely Very Low Hazard (VLH), Low Hazard (LH), Moderately Hazard (MH), High Hazard (HH) and Very High Hazard (VHH) were considered. The result has shown that out of 21 past slope failures, seven (33.33 %) occurs in very high, seven (33.33 %) in high, five (23.81 %) in moderate and two (9.52 %) in low hazard zones, respectively. The comparison shows satisfactory results as 67 % of the past landslides lie within the maximum hazard zone, and the remaining within the moderate and low hazards zones. No landslide event was observed in the very low hazard zone. Thus, the satisfactory agreement confirmed the rationality of the considered governing parameters, their influential weight, the adopted methodology, tools and procedures in developing the landslide hazard map of the study area.

It is fact that, landslide disaster is the most significant hazard in the mountainous regions. These natural phenomena have resulted damage to engineering structures and loss to human life all over the world. Identification of potential instability problems in the initial stage of investigation may not only lead to delineation of landslide disaster zones but will also help to evolve possible remedial measures which may either be adopted to improve the slope stability condition or such problematic zones may be avoided for human settlement and any other developmental activities.

Remote sensing and GIS is a very useful tool in delineating area into various potential instability zones over a wide area. Information and data on all such aspects over a wide area can be abstracted by utilizing remotely sensed data and through GIS application tools. To understand the possible mechanism of landslide and relative contribution of various factors in inducing instability to slopes, it is required to study the past landslide activities. Later, the collected data has to be arranged and prepared into layered spatial GIS database for landslide hazard mapping. Some of the governing parameters; aspect, slope, curvature and elevation can be calculated from the digital elevation model (DEM) of the area, which can be obtained from the ASTER elevation data set. The slope material and land use/cover maps can be processed from Land sat + ETM satellite using different digital image processing procedures. Further, GIS based statistical and probability approach can be used to rate the governing parameters and then customized raster calculation can be applied to develop the landslide hazard map. Thus, Remote sensing and GIS application not only facilitate in identifying the potential landslide hazard over the area but it also helps in disaster management and reduction by provided information on possible degree of hazard with spatial distribution. Such information will be vital to mitigate the hazard and to foresee the anticipated adverse conditions which may adversely affect the safety of people and property.

There is a link between underdevelopment and disasters. Economic dependency increases both the frequency and the impact of natural hazards. Human vulnerability—a feature of the poorest and the most disadvantaged people in the world—became an important concept for understanding the scale of disasters (Wisner et al., at risk: natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disasters, 2004). More recently, vulnerability assessments have explored the social, economic, and political conditions that are likely to affect the capacity of individuals or communities to cope with or adapt to hazard(s) (Cutter, Prog Human Geogr, 20(4):529–539, 1996). Evaluation of different elements of vulnerability is a prerequisite for developing policies for regions affected by climate extremes.

There are numerous social, economic and demographic characteristics available to measure the vulnerability of the community. The creation of a very high spatial resolution GIS database is costly and time-consuming. This paper demonstrates a moderate resolution regional study that would be enough to identify hazard prone and vulnerable zones. Administrative units are selected as the most appropriate unit of investigation for the simple reason that these are the very units demarcating policy and planning authorities and resource allocation crucial to any practical intervention. With the help of Factor Analysis various components of vulnerability have been derived and using a GIS (Geographical Information System) their spatial pattern has been depicted. The paper reveals that there is a difference in spatial pattern of socio-economic vulnerability of the community to flood in the study area.

Himachal Pradesh is acknowledged producing excellent quality of apple- a temperate fruit, other temperate fruits like peach, plum, apricot, pear, stone fruits and nuts. It also grows sub-tropical fruits like guava, litchi, papaya, mango and citrus fruits. The present study aims at evaluating and comparing the trends in area, production and yield of apple and fruits other than apple along with total fruits in Himachal Pradesh state of India. The district constitutes basic unit of observation for the present study. The study is based on secondary data collected for three time periods i.e. 1986–1989, 1996–1999 and 2006–2009. The compound annual growth rate has also been computed for assessing the trends in acreage, production and yield of different fruit crops. The development pattern of fruit crops has been shown with the help of choropleth maps. It has been inferred from the study that apple is dominant fruit crop both in terms of production and yield level over the other fruits in Himachal Pradesh. It accounts about 80 % of total fruits production in the state. However, the area under other fruits is more than the apple, so there are vast potentials to develop these fruits in the state.

Agricultural sustainability has the highest priority in all countries, whether developed or developing. Cropping System Analysis is essential for studying the sustainability of agriculture. Crop rotation is stated as growing one crop after another on the same piece of land in different timings (seasons) without impairing the soil fertility. A cropping system can be defined as the cropping patterns and their management to derive maximum benefits from a given resource base under specific environmental conditions. Multiplicity of cropping system has been one of the main feature of Indian agriculture and is attributed to rained agriculture and prevailing socio-economic situations of farming community. Although, it is well known that one of the main advantage of remote sensing satellites is the synoptic and repeated collection of data which facilitate to map multi-year cropping patterns and crop rotations. In the present work, crop rotation and long term changes monitoring in cropping pattern along other spatial and non-spatial collateral data have been done with the help of satellite data at block level of Hisar district of Haryana. Multi-date IRS LISS-III data of different seasons for the year 2007–2008 have been used for the study. Cropping pattern maps of Rabi, Kharif and Summer season have been understood to know the spatial distribution and associations between crops or crops and uncultivated land in the same fields (although not in a particular order of sequence).

Crop diversity forms a significant component of the Agro-biodiversity. This is believed to be the result of thousands of years of farmer’s selection, experimentation and propagation of desirable traits of desirable species in innumerable ways for their subsistence and cultural purposes. But the selection results in detrimental on-farm land use changes that directly contribute to crop diversity loss. Therefore, this study aimed at determining the existing reality of the on-farm land use changes around the inter-specific crop diversity. The Herfindahl–Hirschman and Simpson index have been used to quantify the concentration of crop type and richness and evenness in crops on the farms. The findings indicated the shift from multiple cropping to monoculture system i.e. Rice Wheat Cropping System (RWCS). Other crops (cash crops, fodder crops, vegetables and pulses) are no more farmers’ attraction. This has now become the backbone of farming in the Panipat district. It is ultimately led to inter-specific crop diversity loss. It makes the national authority to think about the issues of sustainability. Many national organizations are working towards safeguarding the crop species and cause farmers to diversify towards other species.

Limited availability of cultivable land and its distribution in cold desert regions in general and in Lahaul-Spiti in particular reveal the severity of natural environment. It also affects socio-cultural, political and economic aspects. Cultivable land is limited and it occurs only in a few suitable locations due to rugged topography. Climate shows extremity with very cold, arid to semi-arid conditions. Thin and undeveloped mountain soil and nearly absent natural vegetation further exemplify harsh environment. Role of environmental factors get further accentuated owing to lack of all weather linkages those hinder the proper functioning of many infrastructural facilities. Severity of these natural factors varies attitudinally as well as spatially. Lahaul-Spiti is the largest district of Himachal Pradesh covering an area of 13,835 km² accounting for 24.85 % geographical area of the state. It was inhabited by 33,224 persons in 2001 forming density of about two persons per km². Only 272 villages out of total 403 villages were inhabited. Altitude ranges from 2,650 to 5,600 m. An attempt has been made in this paper to analyse the spatial variations and temporal changes in the distribution of cultivable land and its per capita availability across altitudinal zones. Data used in the study was acquired from both secondary sources as well as through primary survey. Primary survey covered 300 households selected from 10 villages lying across three altitudinal zones. Per capita availability of agricultural land was found to be 0.12 ha with inter-zonal and inter-personal variations across zones during 1991–2001.

The significance of analysis of spatio-temporal changes in crop diversity lies in its usefulness for policy makers. It reveals changing pattern of competition among various crops. Diversification is a strategy to optimize the use of land, water and other resources of an area by cultivating more profitable crops. It provides the farmers to decide what to cultivate on their land which provides maximum returns and generally farmer cultivate more than one crop to avoid risk and uncertainty due to climatic and biological vagaries. The concept of diversification implies shift from less profitable and non sustainable crops to more profitable and sustainable crops. It has become an important option to attain natural resource sustainability, ecological balance, employment generation, risk generation: monocropping high risk.

In this paper an attempt has been made to analyze the extent of crop diversification at district level in Kerala state. The study is based on primary and secondary data. Primary data collected from direct field visit. Govt. records, journals and periodicals are used as secondary data. To analyze the crop diversification at district level Herfindahl index and Entropy index were worked out. Toposheets and other maps published by different agencies are used for the study. Arc GIS 9.3 version software is used for the preparation of relevant maps.

The state has an area of 38,863 km² with 14 districts. Lying between north latitudes 8°18′ and 12°48′ and east longitudes 74°52′ and 77°22′. Topography, climate, soil, drainage etc… Influences the agriculture land use pattern of the state. The analysis concluded that more diversion of area towards coconut and rubber in Kottayam, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts due to high wages to labours, increased demand of the product, etc. … Such an analysis focuses on the identification of crop diversification regions that provide a clean areal differentiation in the case of crop grown and also give avenue to planners to establish more economically sustained agricultural system.

A cropping system is defined as the cropping pattern and its management to derive benefits from a given resource base under a specific environmental condition. Crop rotation is a time-honored process of planting annual crops. The paper describes methodology and results of cropping system analysis for Panipat district of Haryana, climatologically characterized by hot summer, cold winter and dry air except during rainy season. Multi-date and Multi-season IRS LISS-III digital satellite data of 2007–2008 was geo-referenced with the already geo-referenced master image by collecting GCP’s using second polynomial order and Nearest Neighborhood (NN) resampling approach. District boundary was overplayed on the image and all the data elements (pixels) within this were extracted for further analysis. Multi-layer stacks were prepared for Kharif, Rabi and Summer seasons using multi-date images of each season. The stacked images of different seasons were classified using complete enumeration approach and unsupervised ISO-Data clustering classifier based on some defined conditions such as number of clusters, threshold, standard deviation etc. To improve the accuracy Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) of each date and non-agricultural mask was generated and used during the classification. The Kharif, Rabi and Summer cropping pattern maps and statistics were generated using classified images and applying logical combinations. During Kharif season rice is the major crop which occupies 73,700 ha area and in the Rabi season wheat is major crop occupying 82,900 ha area. In the summer season most of the area is lying vacant as fallow and major crops are fodder, vegetables etc. Sugarcane is an annual crop and it is available in all three cropping seasons. Rice-Wheat-Other, and Rice-Wheat-Fallow and the major crop rotations identified in the district.

The twenty-first century has witnessed rapid urbanization in Asia, particularly for the large population giants like China and India. Such unprecedented urbanization in India has thrown up several issues and challenges in terms of physical and socio-economic environment, infrastructure as well as city management in the next couple of years.

The ‘top heavy’ nature of urbanization in independent India reflects a maximum concentration of population in largest cities portraying an uneven distribution of population across the various size classes. Also, highly urbanized states often reflect higher urban growth rates as well as higher levels of urbanization. Such imbalances in urbanization have implications on the broader issue of sustainability in terms of infrastructural development, environmental balance and societal progress. This study attempts to portray the interaction of huge population burden with existing physical, social and infrastructural environment in top ten most urbanized states like Goa, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana and West Bengal, Kerala and Mizoram.

Temporal Urban Pattern Assessment assess that Urban Sprawl is the Major obstacle in urban development. The growth pattern of Haryana’s towns is going out of control and the construction land has kept expanding blindly. While doing any type of analysis, we are trying to understand the problem; one has to find and analysis urban social pattern that reflects the social characteristics of urban setting. Urban Pattern Assessment includes status of Haryana’s Town in different three periods 1970, 2010 and 2021. The objective of the study is to assess the Urban Sprawl of the City and to check that on which pattern the growth of the city is increasing and it also shows how Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System technology support Temporal Urban Pattern Assessment. The Study follows the Method of Digital Interpretation and finds out the pattern of yearly growth in every town of Haryana. The study finds out Urban Sprawl of the towns from 1970 to till now and future perspectives also. The study is analyzing how much area of Haryana’s towns is increasing and encroaching agriculture land and it also find out the growth pattern of the town in which Haryana towns are increasing and its impact for future Proposed Master Plan. The study shows a rapid change in the town’s growth which is alarming for the Proposed Plans. Haryana is going to overtake the other states of India in terms of Urbanization.

The Indian Urban Environment is undergoing a radical change with far reaching implications on society and nature. A rapid impetus and thrust is being given to the development of urban areas on sustainable basis to meet the increasing demand of urban population for housing, infrastructure, and green space without comprising the natural resources, assets and quality of life. The present study demonstrates the present status, scope, need, methodology and outcomes of the thematic mapping for the purpose of urban environment analysis for Dharuhera of Haryana State. Satellite data used of this study is taken from high resolution Quick Bird PAN stereo of 2008–2009 with a scale of 1:4,000. Urban land use map is component of Urban Environment Baseline and thematic mapping in National Urban Information System (NUIS). The urban land use classification has been done with a three tier hierarchy level. Various maps for each class at each level (three level) of urban land use i.e., built-up, industrial, transport, water bodies, etc. were prepared. Ground truth and other field information were incorporated in the final maps. The study shows that urban-land use, comprises-Built-up Urban: 6.80 %, Built-up Rural: 1.91 %, Industrial Area: 8.82 %, Commercial Area: 0.51 % and Vacant Land 9.70 %. These maps are very useful for further urban environment setting and further urban planning and management at town and state level.

In West Tripura District Haora is the only major river which is suffering from severe bank erosion due to which it is also gradually shifting. Out of its 46.88 km length, only 19 km stretch has been represented in this paper, within which 4 sites namely, Champaknagar, Rabicharan Thakur Para, Golak Thakur Para and Mekhlipara have been identified as vulnerable to bank erosion through overlay of temporal datasets. This study aims to analyse the temporal change of the bank line of the Haora River and to calculate the Bank Erosion Hazard Index (BEHI) of these vulnerable sites. Overlay of two temporal datasets show the variability of the River Haora during 1932–2009. Then for estimating BEHI intensive field survey has been carried out for qualitative ranking of erosion risk. The variables selected for BEHI are bank height ratio, root depth ratio, weighted root density, bank angle, surface protection, bank material etc. The study shows that the bank erosion hazard rating varies from low to high. The Haora River has shifted about 3–4 km southwards during last 22 years (1.75 m/year) and there is positive correlation between bank erosion hazard rating and shifting.

This article discusses the application of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) in conjunction with LANDSAT 7ETM⁺ remote sensing data, and geographical information system (GIS) to the spatial mapping of soil erosion risk in Jhagrabaria watershed Allahabad, U.P., India. Soil map and topographical data were used to develop the soil erodibility factor (K) and a digital elevation model (DEM) image was used to generate the topographic factor (LS). The cover-management factor (C) was developed based on vegetation, shade, and soil fraction images derived from spectral mixture analysis of a LANDSAT Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (LANDSAT 7ETM⁺) image. Support practice factors (P) was developed by crossing operation between land use/land cover classification map and slope map. Assuming the same climatic conditions in the study area, the rainfall-runoff erosivity (R) factor was not used. The value of K for study area lies between 0.25 and 0.485, LS values were less than 1.4, C and P values were less than 1. A soil erosion risk map with five classes (very low, low, medium, medium-high, and high) was produced based on the simplified RUSLE within the GIS environment and was linked to land use/land cover (LULC) image to explore relationships between soil erosion risk and LULC distribution. The results indicate that most succession and mature vegetation are in low erosion risk areas, while Barren and Fallow lands are usually associated with medium to high erosion risk areas. This research implies that remote sensing and GIS provide promising tools for evaluating and mapping soil erosion risk in the Jhagrabaria watershed of India.

Gumti River is the largest river of Tripura which flows for 47 km (35 % of the total length) in a meandering course through the synclinal valley between Baramura and Atharamura hill ranges. The Amarpur town (23°31′ 42.6761″N latitude and 91°39′ 52.1358″ E longitude) is situated to its right bank which has observed the channel’s variability of shift in space and time during last 74 years. Fluctuations of different hydrological variables namely, discharge velocity etc. of the Gumti River for both pre and post monsoon seasons have been analysed on the basis of the hydrological dataset from 1995 to 2010. The rate of shift (%) of the right bank of the River Gumti at Amarpur town during both pre and post monsoon seasons have been calculated. The average annual shifting of the meander at Amarpur town is 3.03 m and average eroded area is 767.14 m²/year. Thus the study aims to quantify different hydrological parameters and river course change using GIS technique. The work has been done on the basis of SOI topographical map of 1932–1933 and 1974–1975 (No. 79M/10) and satellite images for the year (1989, 2006). Overlaying of these four temporal dataset has been carried out to indentify the direction of shift and to mark the amount of area under loss (erosion) and gain (deposition). Due to gradual shift of the channel people lost their valuable property every year and the Amarpur town becomes more and more vulnerable to erosion. So it is highly significant to study the hydrological behaviour, channel characteristics, as well as, the bank material characteristics of the River Gumti to get an idea about propensity to vulnerability of Amarpur town.

Waveform or meandering is obvious for all stream channels. Ideal waveforms, such as a sine or cosine wave, are one line thick, but for a stream, the width must be taken into consideration. The meandering stream follows the down-valley axis, a line fitted to the curve such that the sum of all the amplitudes measured from it is zero. However to determine the intensity of the meander of a stream, several measures such as Wavelength, Amplitude, Curvature, Radius Of Curvature, Sinuosity, Radius: Width Ratio, Wavelength/Width Ratio etc. have been used. The present paper is trying to introduce two other measures—Meander Form Index (F_mI) and Meander Shape Index (S_mI) to the field not only to give a quantitative value to the meander but also to add quality to it.

A watershed is a fluvial geomorphological unit in which all the precipitation and streams drain into a common outlet such as the mouth of a bay or any point along a stream channel. Stream flow and the water quality of a river are affected by both anthropogenic and natural factors existing within the catchment area, hence it is vital to study watershed and its management. This includes identification of problems and issues impacting the natural resources of the watershed and recommending management solutions that will benefit the community, the economy and the environment and would bring about a sustainable development within the watershed.

The present study seeks to generate various thematic maps in GIS domain like Drainage, Geomorphology, Road, Rail, Canal, Forest, Settlement, Land Use Land Cover etc. using high resolution satellite data (IRS LISS IV and Cartosat-1). The application of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been used to give suitable weightage value to various factors in each layer. In this paper, Land Resource Development Plan (LRDP) map has been generated to suggest conservation of forest, Farmbund, Social forestry etc. to protect soil loss, soil erosion and also Water Resource Development Plan (WRDP) map has been generated to suggest to make some structures like Canal, check dam, reservoir for the conservation of water resources. The future implication of the study would be to control damaging runoff and degradation of land and thereby conservation of soil and water.

The Impact of the Morphological characters on the terrain is reflected by the drainage of the area. Thalisain area of Pauri district consist the upper portion of Nayar Basin (The Eastern and western Dudhatoli Water Divide)+the upper part of Bino Nadi. The upper portion of Nayar Basin, Dudhatoli top from here Eastern and Western Nayar take birth (originates). The study area forms a part of Garhwal Himalaya within in central Himalaya and represents moderate relief of lesser Himalaya. The geometric properties of drainage and network of sub watershed was delineated using remote sensing and are estimated on Topographical Sheet on the scale of 1:50,000. The morphometric analyses of watershed have been carried out using GIS softwares. The study gives a wide description of drainage network analysis, like streams order, drainage density, drainage frequency, length ratio, relief ratio etc. and these are clear evidences for the structural control and also involves the study of drainage pattern. The drainage features of the Thalisain area are dependent on the geology, geomorphology, topography and climate. Therefore in the study a systematic analysis of the pattern in the drainage network as well as the morphometry of the watersheds has been undertaken. The main aim of this paper is to analysis morphometric parameters of this area.

The Upper Alaknanda Basin constitutes a part of greater and Tethys Himalayan zone in Garhwal region. The geology and geomorphology of the area is very complex. The area includes schistose phyllite, schist and granulites intruded by basal large gneissic granite and pegmatite and different land feature like horned peaks, serrated crests, cirques, hanging valleys, torrential rapids, waterfall and escarpments. The main objective of this study is to analyze the geological and morphological parameters for hypothetical hydrological and geological hazard vulnerability assessment like landslides, Soil erosion, flash flood and earthquake using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques. On the basis of geological and morphological parameters, Hypothetical hazards vulnerability assessment of watershed has been done. There are eleven watersheds, out of which 9 are of 4th stream order and rest of 5th. For hydrological hazards, 2 watersheds are highly vulnerable, 7 moderately vulnerable and 2 are having low vulnerability. Geologically, 3 watersheds are low, 3 moderate and 3 watersheds are highly vulnerable for hazards. Remaining 2 watersheds are very high vulnerable for hazards in study area.

Kolkata the seventh largest metropolis in India as per the 2011 census, evolved without a planned sewage disposal system with waste being dumped into the river or into adjacent saltwater and brackish wetlands. The East Kolkata Wetlands which is considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems and serve as the natural water purification system for the city is being threatened due to mismanagement of the processes to conserve it. Developmental planning has failed to take into cognizance the role played by these systems. Considered as the low priority areas, solid waste management has never been taken up seriously either by the public or by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation till recently when the large amount of waste is threatening our health, environment and well being. Though crucial, planning has recognized only the provisioning services of the wetland and to a smaller extent its capacity to regulate wastes, at the same time ignoring other services as flood attenuation, and support to biodiversity. Emphasis has been on engineering measures for quick economic gains at the cost of ecological sustainability. The lack of basic understanding of the nature of wetland ecosystem has led to overall loss of benefits accrued from the wetland through natural processes and functions. It is high time to learn from the lessons delivered. The present paper is an attempt to assess the linkages of the city of Kolkata vis-a-vis the management of East Kolkata Wetlands and the role of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation in sustaining and restoring the wetland.

The frequency and intensity of flood disasters have become serious issues in the development process as flood disasters have caused serious environmental damage, loss of human lives and wanton destruction of economic assets globally. Loss of human lives and development assets, rising costs of reconstruction efforts and associated hardship are putting the issue of disaster reduction and risk management higher on the policy agenda of affected governments, multilateral agencies and NGOs. The starting point of concrete flood disaster mitigation efforts is to identify the areas with higher risk levels and fashion out appropriate preventive and response mechanisms.

This paper proposes a GIS-based model for identifying flood-prone areas for the purpose of planning for disaster mitigation and preparedness, using a river basin as a unit of analysis. This model uses a number of physical, demographic and landuse data to identify areas and settlements that are vulnerable to flooding. Based on this multi-criteria model, areas, settlements and populations with varying degrees of vulnerability to flooding were identified and mapped. The model results showed that over 1,200 settlements harbouring over 13 million people are at grave risk of flooding. These vulnerable settlements and populations are mostly located within the coastal stretch, river valleys and urbanized parts of the study area. While the model proves to be usable for planning purposes, inclusion of population data at a finer level (Enumeration Areas) would improve the performance of this model by providing a near accurate estimation of population at risk as well as their spatial spread.

Floods are the most devastating hazards that occur frequently almost every year in most parts of the Northern India. In the present research paper an attempt has been made to analyse and highlight the impact of recurring floods on various anthropogenic activities mainly on agri-masses and their livelihood security. Apart, from that such types of natural calamities reflect their impacts on various other important phenomena as well, like agriculture, human and live stock wealth including the local existing environment. Almost all parts of northern India are intensively affected by severe floods with high to moderate intensity, i.e. Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Jammu & Kashmir followed by Delhi the capital city of India. The estimated area affected by the floods is 40 million hectares. The estimated annual loss due to the most destructive floods is Rs. 2,104 million, while the average affected area by floods during 1953–1996 was about 7.52 million hectares. In the same duration nearly 32.35 million people were affected. The mitigation of the flood hazards would require identification and mapping of flood-prone areas, advance warning system through satellite, planning and action, as well as integration of local and traditional knowledge with existing scientific knowledge system, to save the precious lives of millions of people including the cattle wealth

The present study is an attempt to delineate the different land use/land cover categories in the Haheom watershed of the Kashmir valley. A total of 09 classes were delineated. Out of which dense forests were the major class with 32.43 % area. It was followed by sparse forests with 17.40 % and Apple orchards with 9.37 % area respectively. It was observed that over the period of time, a considerable change in the land use/land cover had occurred. This change has been unplanned and unscientific in majority of the cases and has resulted in serious soil erosion problems necessitating immediate remedial measures. In order to initiate effective management strategies in the watershed, proper soil and water conservation measures need to be taken in accordance to the magnitude of the problem. This includes prioritization at the micro watershed level and subsequent conservation measures. The present watershed has been divided into seven micro watersheds. After calculating the Sediment Yield index (SYI), the micro watersheds have been ranked from one to seven. This ranking basically highlights the intensity of soil erosion problems in the watershed. In the micro watersheds, where the Sediment Yield Index was high, a combination of engineering and biological measures were recommended.