Land-Use Changes and Their Impact on Water Resources in Himalaya

Abstract

This chapter attempts to assess the impacts of land-use dynamics on the environmental status and availability of water resources in Himalaya with a case illustration of Upper Kosi catchment in Kumaon Himalaya. The study used remote sensing and field-based techniques along with qualitative and quantitative empirical methods. The results indicated that population growth and the resultant increased demand of natural resources have brought about rapid land-use changes decreasing forests (4.36 %), extending cultivation (14.33 %) and increasing wastelands and degraded lands (2.18 %). These land-use changes have disrupted the hydrological regime of the catchment through increased run-off and decreased groundwater recharge and caused severe depletion of water resources. Nearly 33 % of natural springs have dried and 11 % have become seasonal, and 7.36 km stream length has dried during the last 30 years. Consequently, as many as 61 % villages have been facing great scarcity of water for drinking, sanitation as well as for crop production, and this situation turns into a severe water crisis during dry summer months. The catchment has lost 18 % of its irrigation potential due to drying of streams and springs resulting in a 25 % decline in food production which has resulted in a 32 % food deficit during 1981 and 2011. A comprehensive land-use policy based on the integrated management of land, water and forest resources needs to be evolved and implemented for the conservation and sustainable development of water resources in the region.