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GIS application for landuse/land cover management in context of wasteland – A case study of ferozepur Jhirka block in Haryana state
Dr. Subhan Khan
Email: subhankhan1@yahoo.com
Mr. Deepak Goel
Email: deepakgo@rediffmail.com
Ms. Gulshan
Email: gul_75@rediffmail.com
National Institute of Science
Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS)
Dr. K.S. Krishnan Marg, Pusa Gate
New Delhi – 110 012
Phone: (+91-11) - 2584 1758
Fax: (+91-11) - 2584 2382
Abstract
Since land use is a spatial subject, the approach to reclamation of wasteland too has to be spatial. The spatial approach takes into consideration problems of integration among all the elements of agriculture and, their space affinity, and, in turn, the spatial dimension of agriculture. Agricultural productivity is dependent on physical, economic and institutional factors and the genesis of wasteland also bears a close relationship with these principles. Recognizing this principle, the Planning Commission has adopted regional approach to agriculture by grouping districts into 15 agro-climatic regions and within them 74 sub-regions or zones, on the basis of the three parameters mentioned above. Because of regional contrasts in physical conditions, it is possible to identify typologies of wasteland in their physical setting, e.g. saline wasteland which occur in contiguous tracts close to the meeting place of the river with the sea, as in delta areas along the east coast or in the alluvial plains of U.P. and Bihar where exploitation of underground water and water logging have rendered large tracts of good agricultural lands wasteland. Foothill areas brought under cultivation by improper terracing and indiscriminate exploitation of the vegetal cover have also contributed to increase in area under wasteland. These reflect economic factors, as they influence land use and land productivity. There are institutional factors, such as land tenures and fragmentation of land holdings, which also contribute to gradual reduction in land productivity especially in semi-arid regions where dry farming is practiced; and over the years these lands have been rendered waste.
Environmental conditions differ widely within and between different agro- climatic regions of the country. Deterioration of land quality resulting in wasteland due to either environmental or socio-economic factors cannot be left to persist. Aggregate statistical figures at the national and state levels about the success achieved in wasteland reclamation vary widely as they are not based on scientific evaluation of wasteland as a spatial phenomenon to the extent they reveal ground truth. Wasteland coexist spatially along with lands put to different uses; and hence they have to be identified and evaluated using a holistic or spatially integrated approach lest they become problem areas for other land uses.
Increase in agricultural output and productivity in India has been achieved primarily through intensive cultivation utilizing modern methods of farming, increase in area under cultivation and to a small extent by effecting changes in cropping pattern. Expansion of cultivated land beyond limits imposed by environmental factors and indiscriminate exploitation of groundwater have contributed substantially to the land becoming waste.
The watershed approach (at both micro and macro levels) recommended for integrated land and water management portrays the principles of land use planning with vertical zonation of land use according to altitude or slope (specially in hilly and mountainous regions) according to ground reality. At the cadastral level the land use, land productivity and the gap between land capability, existing cropping pattern and productivity portray the interplay of physical, economic an institutional factors between land holdings and households which own the land or lease out to the landless and marginal owners. Since socio- economic conditions of the households in the village vary sharply it becomes essential to evaluate human response to land use-choosing household as a location entity and landholdings made up of groups of plots as areal units.
Keeping in view the hierarchic space relations from the district to village level as a part of the strategy for integrated area planning from below, the design and analytical framework of the present study covers three area levels - the village, village cluster approximating to a watershed and the Development Block as a unit of planning adopted in the context of the approach to decentralized planning. District plan and that of sub-regional plans within the States (e.g. Mewat region in Haryana) could then be more realistic for integration of environment in the development strategy. The present paper is based on the results of a pilot project study on landuse/land cover management in context of wasteland which has been taken up in Ferozepur Jhirka Block of Gurgaon district of Haryana (Map 1) at the behest of the National Wastelands Development Board (NWDB), Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India.
The main aim of the pilot study was to test the capability and utility of GIS technology in the preparation of micro-level action plans for development and management of land use, with particular reference to wasteland. Within this broad objective, the first major objective of the study was development of procedures and systems based on spatial and non-spatial data modeling using GIS for operative uses of wasteland development planning at block and village levels. Another objective was to assess the utility of satellite data in identification and mapping of various land use practices, and categories of wasteland, and to update the information contained in wasteland maps. The specific objective in this respect was to analyze critically the pattern of natural use at block level highlighting spatial variations and their types; and to establish their suitability classification, analyzing their respective scope, and limitations and potentialities for agricultural and non-agricultural uses followed by identification of wasteland and its types such as degraded forests, waterlogged areas, salt affected areas etc
In order to introduce space element to the study of the dimensions of natural environment, resource endowment and its utilization with reference to factors contributing to wasteland formation, spatial variations in human response and its impact on land use at three scales of areas mentioned above, topographical maps and satellite imageries of the scale of 1:50,000 and secondary data with village as the areas unit have been used. For spatial analysis, Geographical Information System (GIS) having the capability to handle both spatial and non-spatial data and integrated modeling plays an important role in evolving and implementing a Decision Support System (DSS). The present paper presents some of these issues in detail.
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