Monitoring changes in riverine forests of Sindh-Pakistan using remote sensing and GIS techniques

Abstract

Depletion in the forest area threatens the sustainability of agricultural production systems and en-dangers the economy of the country. Every year extensive areas of arable agricultural and forestlands are degraded and turned into wastelands over time, due to natural causes or human interventions. Depletion in forest cover, therefore, has an important impact on socio-economic development and ecological balance. High population growth rate in Pakistan is one of the main causes for rapid deterioration of the physical environment and natural resource base. In view of this, it was felt necessary to carryout landuse studies focusing on mapping the past and present conditions and the extent of forests and rangelands using satellite remote sensing (SRS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies. The SRS and GIS technologies provide a possible means of monitoring and mapping the changes occurring in natural resources and the environment on a continuous basis. The riverine forests of Sindh mostly growing along the river Indus in the flood plains are spread over an area of 241,000 ha but are disappearing very rapidly. Construction of dams/barrages on the upper reaches of the river Indus for hydroelectric power and irrigation works have significantly reduced the discharge of fresh water into the lower Indus basin and as a result 100,000 acres of forests have disappeared. Furthermore, heavy floods that occurred in 1978, 1988, 1992 and 1997, altered the course of the River Indus in many places, especially in the lower reaches, this has also damaged the riverine forests of Sindh. An integrated approach involving analysis of SRS data from 1977 to 1998 and GIS technique have been used to evaluate the geographic extent and distribution of the riverine forests of Sindh and to monitor temporal changes in the forest cover between 1977 and 1990; 1990 and 1998; and 1977 and 1998. The integrated landuse forest cover maps have shown not only the temporal changes that occur in the riverine forest but also in the river Indus course between 22 years period.