Mapping and Monitoring of Natural Resources of Kanjli
Wetland Ecosystem (Punjab) India-An Integrated Approach for
its Conservation.
V.K.Verma, Rajiv Chopra and P.K. Sharma
Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, Ludhiana-141004
Abstract
The Ramsar Convention of IUCN help in 1971in lran raised global attention on conservation and management of wetlands. The importances of wetlands have been recognized recently in India. The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India has identified 17 'Notified Wetlands' for their conservation and management and Kanjli wetland (Kapurthala District) in Punjab is one of them. To have an integrated, environmentally compatible approach for conservation of this wetland an attempt has been made to map landuse, water spread and vegetation and to asses the water quality in terms of its turbidity under 'National Wetland Mapping Project' funded by Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India. Various thematic maps have been prepared using pre and post monsoon IRS 1A LISS II(FCC) generated from bands 2,3and 4. Five major landuse categories viz., built up land, agricultural land, forest, wasteland and wetland were identified and mapped. These were father subdivided into subclasses and their respective areas were computed. The water spread of the lake for post monsoon and pre-monsoon has been mapped. The qualitative turbidity as manifested on the false colour composites has also been assessed. Based on these maps, the thetas to Kanjili wetland has been identified and adequate conservation measures have also been suggested.
Introducation
India by virtue of its extensive geographical stretch and varied terrain and climate, supports a rich diversity of inland and coastal wetland ecosystems. As per Directory of Wetlands (1988), in India a total area of 40494 sq. km. is classified as wetlands. This forms only1.21% of the total land surface. This directory also includes 14 wetlands of Punjab covering 225.76 sq. km area out of total 5.357 sq. km of the geographical area of the State. The ministry of Environment and Forest, Govt. of India has identified 17 notified wetlands including Harike, Ropar and Kanjli of Punjab for their conservation and management. In view of this an attempt has been made to map landuse, water spread and vegetation and to assess the water quality in terms of its turbidity, under National Wetland Mapping Project funded by Ministry of Environment andForest, Govt. of India.
Study Area
Kanjli wetland is located about 4 km from the city of Kapurthala on the West or Black Bein (Fig.1). Kanjli lake came into existence as a result of small irrigation barrage built at
Black Bein. It is a man made fresh water riverine system. Kanjli ecological region stretches around villege Kanjli in Kapurthala district. It can be classified as both natural as well as artificial wetland. Natural, because it had been a part of riparian ecosystem had at that time immemorial. It had the natural flora just as the other part of river ecosystem and at that time. It gained artificiality with the construction of the barrage resulting in the impoundment of water.
Figure 1: Location Map of Study Area
Methodology
The landuse/land cover map of Kanjli wetland and its environs was prepared through visual interpretation of IRS-IA LISS-II multidate data ( pre monsoon- March 1993 and post monsoon- October 1992) in the form of false colour composites (FCC) generated from bands 2,3and 4 following the landuse classification system proposed by Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad. The variation in tone, texture, size and shape were used to identify and map different landuse classes and sub classes. Permanent features like major settlements, roads and canals were traced from Survey of India maps. Per monsoon and post monsoon satellite data was Kanjli lake has also been recorded. The qualitative turbidity ratings viz. low, moderate and high were assigned based on the hue, as manifested on the false colour
composites.
