Analysis of Land Use/Land Cover Mapping for Sustainable Land Resources Development of Hisar District, Haryana, India

Abstract

Natural resources on the earth are being continuously stressed to meet the demands of increasing population. The increasing population requires enhanced production of food, energy, and water. To ensure reasonable civic amenities for quality life, there is need for the development of more infrastructure, more areas under habitation, and enhanced per capita expenditure. Land resources, being finite, need to be prudently used to meet the ever-increasing demand. This requires the study of land use/land cover (LU/LC) and its monitoring to understand the changing dynamics and optimal utilization of the resources. Geoinformation technologies are helpful to a great extent for not only creation of baseline information but also to monitor such changes. The present study has been carried out for Hisar district of Haryana state, India, over a period of 10 years to understand the change in the land use/land cover pattern. The district has a total geographical area of 4174.52 sq. km. Digital image processing with selected ground truth has been carried out for generating the information from satellite data. IRS/LANDSAT data have been used for the purpose. This information has been analyzed in the light of various land resources constraints by taking collateral information on soil types, groundwater quality, and depth along with geomorphological constraints. This information has been used for suggesting land resources development plan for the region which will ensure optimum and prudent use of land resources.