Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) Dynamics in a Semi-Arid Watershed in Eastern Rajasthan, India Using Geospatial Tools

Abstract

Land use/land cover (LULC) change analysis has become a unique approach in determining the extent of degradation of natural resources within a given period of time. Remote sensing and GIS techniques have proved to be efficient tools for mapping and analyzing LULC changes over the last few decades. LULC change analysis has been carried out in Ruparel watershed which is situated in Alwar district, Eastern Rajasthan, India, based on visual image interpretation and change detection analysis of multi-temporal satellite data pertaining to IRS-P6 LISS III data of 2004 (Path-Row 95:52), IRS-P6 LISS III of 2014 (Path-Row 95:52) and IRS-R2A LISS III data of 2021. Visual image interpretation led to the delineation of 13 LULC classes using ArcGIS 10.5 software and include categories such as cultivated land, fallow land dense forest, open forest, degraded forest, open scrub, gullied/ravenous land, settlement/built-up land, River/waterbody, dry waterbody/dry river, plantation, barren/rocky/stony waste, and stone quarry. Results of the analysis depict significant LULC changes that have taken place in the area from 2004 to 2021. LULC categories such as cultivated land and settlement/built-up land have reported major changes in terms of their increase with 56.42 km2 (4.63%) and 31.9 km2 (2.63%) respectively primarily because of an increase in population. Likewise, the dense forest has reported a decrease of 33.78 km2 (2.78%) in its area and has been converted into degraded forest i.e., 32.04 km2 (2.64%) and open forest 2.85 km2 (0.24%) due to increased human exploitation of forest resources and mining activities taking place within the forested area. The study area needs the immediate attention of policymakers and stakeholders as the study area being part of the National Capital Region (NCR) will see excessive in-migration of the population in coming years which will further deplete the precious resources in the area.