SATELLITE DATA BASED NATURAL RESOURCES MAPPING OF BANNI GRASS LAND, KACHCHH DISTRICT, GUJARAT, INDIA.

Abstract

Natural resources provide a range of interrelated environmental functions and socioeconomic benefits, which support a variety of livelihood strategies for different stakeholders of the local community. Banni Grasslands Reserve form a belt of arid grassland ecosystem, located in northern part of Kachchh district. This area is known for rich wildlife and biodiversity and is spread across an area of 2,617 square kilometers. Different types of flora and fauna species present in this region. It‟s a very important to observe & monitoring this region applying advanced technology such as Geographical Information Science with various remotely sensed data. With respect to Banni region, soils are moderate to strongly saline and are subject to flooding/inundation. Due to this inundation factor there is variation of vegetation also. The invasion species as Prosopis juliflora has taken a significant role for damaging the ecosystem through deceasing the grass areas. This region is totally dependent on livestock farming. This region has the Pastoralist community and they are locally called Maldhari who has camels, sheep, goats, cattle, and buffaloes. Besides these natural resources; long coast line is also contributing major portions in district economies. The natural resource map has been prepared with the advance Remote sensing technology for the Pastoral community to find out suitable vegetation for their grazing animals. Increasing of grazing pressure is also a major problem to this region. So, using of space technology in this region will be a great achievement for the development of pastoral community as well as its ecosystem conservation plan also. Key words: Natural Resources, Maldhari, conservation, Participatory, GPS.