Integration of social, economic and environmental factors in GIS for land degradation vulnerability assessment in the Pir Panjal Himalaya, Kashmir, India

Abstract

Land degradation assessment is imperative for developing a mitigation plan to minimize the adverse impacts associated with land degradation. The study involves the integration of various social, economic and environmental indices for identifying the land degradation vulnerable areas in the Pir Panjal Himalaya, Kashmir, India. Analysis of the land use and land cover from the satellite data revealed that ~47% of the area is devoid of any vegetal cover. Slope index revealed that ~40% of the study area is precipitous with slope >30%. The land utilization index indicated that ~51% of the area is over-utilized. Integration of all the environmental indices in GIS environment yielded the Natural Resource Prioritization Index which revealed that ~41% of the area needs attention for land degradation mitigation on top priority. Integration of all the socioeconomic indices yielded the Socio-Economic Priority Zones which revealed that ~35% of the area needs attention for the socio-economic upliftment on priority for combating the land degradation in the study area. Land Degradation Vulnerability Index (LDVI) model was developed in GIS environment based on the unique combination of various natural resource and socioeconomic priority zones using the weighted index approach to assess the cumulative impact of social, economic and environmental factors on land degradation. The model analyses revealed that ~48% of the study area (~603 Km2) shows high to very high LDVI values alluding to its high vulnerability to different forms of land degradation. The approach developed in this research for the integration of various causal factors to identify the lands vulnerable to varying degree and intensity of degradation will go a long way in developing appropriate mitigation strategies for combating land degradation at village level in the Himalaya.