Abstract
Mining activities are a recognized factor for Forest Cover Loss (FCL) worldwide. Huge forest cover areas are lost due to mining activities worldwide and in India. This study is conducted to identify the villages that experienced more FCL as a result of mining activities and also focuses on identifying the role of individual coal mines on FCL. Results indicate that the mining area increased to 70.79 km2 in 2020 from 25.56 km2 in 1990, and the vegetation area reduced to 149.22 km2 from 271 km2 at the same time. Mostly Jamuria, Barabani, Raniganj, and Pandabeswar blocks have lost large amounts of forest cover due to mining activities. Results also indicate that mining areas have increased nearly threefold and influenced the rate of FCL in the district. Village-level analysis of mining-induced FCL identified that more than ten villages had lost more than 10% of the total forest cover areas due to coal mine expansion resulting in environmental degradation. Analysis of spatial matrices indicates a fragmentation nature of vegetation cover areas of the selected coal mines and indicates that available vegetation areas are concentrated in some pocket areas. Local Indicators of Spatial Autocorrelation (LISA) based spatial patterns of mining-induced FCL show high cluster location in and around major coal mines of the area proving the role of open-cast coal mines on FCL and forest fragmentation. The analysis results may help the planners maintain the healthy environment of the affected villages by formulating alternative ways of forest cover increase.
Published Version
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