GISdevelopment.net --> Application --> Miscellaneous
Remote Sensing and GIS based ecotourism planning: A case study for western Midnapore, West Bengal, India
U. K. Banerjee
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721302, India
Smriti Kumari
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721302, India
smriti_isro@hotmail.com
S. K. Paul, S. Sudhakar
RRSSC, Kharagpur, DOS/ISRO, India
© GISdevelopment.net. All rights reserved.
Remote Sensing and GIS based ecotourism planning: A case study for western Midnapore, West Bengal, India
U. K. Banerjee
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721302, India
Smriti Kumari
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721302, India
smriti_isro@hotmail.com
S. K. Paul, S. Sudhakar
RRSSC, Kharagpur, DOS/ISRO, India
Introduction:
Ecotourism has attracted increasing attention in recent years, not only as an alternative to mass tourism, but also as a means of economic development and environmental conservation. Being a nature based tourism; it takes into account the natural ecological attraction, their conservation and development. Its main aim is to safeguard the environment, making it beneficial to the local people by generating revenue and education and pleasure for the tourist.
Ecotourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in the tourism industry at present. The market for nature holidays is certainly a growing one. In 1993, the World Tourism Organization (WTO) has estimated that nature tourism generates 7 per cent of all international travel expenditure, where the total annual global earning from tourism is nearly $3 trillion and 212 million people are employed (Eagle, 1997) 1. Year 2002 has been declared as an International Year of Ecotourism (IYE) by the United Nations. This reflects its global importance.
Its evolution took place in western society to experience wild nature. It started in 1872 in the United States with Yellowstone Park, in 1879 in Australia with Royal Park and in 1885 in Canada with Banff Park and Niagara Falls to set aside natural areas for protection and recreation in the form of national parks.. There is a worldwide system of thousands of protected areas in all parts of the globe now. Since 1970, globally the number of protected areas has increased by 185%. The present area ,is 926,349,646 square kilometers, in parks which is an increase of 51.5% since 1970(Eagle,1997)1.
India has vast natural resources ranging from snow-capped mountains, blooming valleys, sea resorts, rolling rivers, dense forest, priceless mountains, temples and other places of heritages to vast desert areas, which can be important destinations for tourists (domestic and foreign). In spite of such bounties of nature and varieties of religion, culture and ethnicity, India accounts for only 0.4 % of the global tourism market and similar insignificant fraction of the world tourism revenue (West Bengal Tourism Report,1996)2. There is a need to develop tourist destination that can be managed scientifically to attract large number of international as well as domestic tourists.
Present study is an attempt to identify potential ecotourism sites in eastern India using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques in forest dominated area of western Midnapore, West Bengal. After identifying the potential sites, a demonstrative plan has been made for Ecotourism development based on locally available natural resources.
Study Area:
Study area includes five complete ranges (Chandrakona, Arabari, Nayabasat, Pirakata and Godapiyasal Forest Range), and two partial ranges (Midnapore range and Lalgarh range) of East Midnapore Forest Division of Midnapore District of West Bengal. From the administrative point of view, these area cover five blocks of northern Midnapore ie, Chandrakona I, Chandrakona II, Garbeta III, Salbani and Keshpur (Fig 1.1). The Midnapore, district lies in north of the Kasai River and is an agricultural-trade centre on the Grand Trunk Road from Calcutta to Amritsar. Kharagpur Railway Junction, across the river, provides major rail connections (Second Working plan ,1995-2015, Midnapore)10. The topography, soil, vegetation, drainage pattern, climate have played important role in growth of the region.
It is located in the North-Western part of the district extending between 22°57' to 22°23' North latitude and 87°27' & 87° East Longitude. In general, the area is underdeveloped due to poor agricultural economy and poor industrial base. Only 31.86 % people are workers and among them 83.79% are engaged in agricultural and forestry. The area is dominated by rural population, which is about 92.15%, and the percentage of urban population is only 6.85% living in three urban centres viz., Chandrakona Town, Khirpai and Ramjibanpur the north eastern part of the block (Census,1991)5.
The Western half of the study area is dominated by thick forest mainly of North Indian moist deciduous and North Eastern Tropical Dry deciduous forest consisting of dry peninsular sal. The significant forest resources with memorable historical past make it ideal place for Ecotourism development (Second Working plan ,1995-2015, Midnapore)11. This will contribute significantly to economic development if Ecotourism is developed by Forest Department by involving the local population as well as NGO and private organization.
Data Used:
Satellite data: IRS 1D LISS III (Path/Row: 108/55. 108/56, 109/55, 109/56)
IRS 1D PAN (Path/Row: 108/55B, 108/56D, 109/55A, 109/56B)
Ancillary Data: Census Data , District Planning map.
Methodology:
Ecotourism planning requires exploring diverse types of natural and cultural attractions along with demographic characteristics, to provide the base for designing the travel industry different from the mass tourism standard. To fulfill this purpose Remote Sensing and GIS approach has been used. The methodology is given in the Fig 1.2
IRS 1D LISS III Data has been used for the study. The study area was then extracted using the block map generated from the census data. The extracted digital data was further analyzed to generate vegetation density map, land use/land cover map and soil productivity map.
Vegetation Density Map: The information regarding the vegetation density can be of great help to identify and declare ecotourism potential site. In order to get these informations, NDVI approach has been used , which is highly correlated with vegetation parameter such as green leaf, biomass, leaf area and is indicator of photosynthetic activity and hence is of considerable value for vegetation discrimination and monitoring. NDVI values ranges between -1 to +1 and except vegetation, other features show either negative or zero NDVI values, using informations derived from NDVI, the study area is broadly classified into five categories among which the higher values show agricultural region while the most of the forest area fall under moderate value and lowest value reflect no vegetation, most of them are fallow or waste land. This has been shown in Fig 1.3.and 1.3.1.
The weightage (Eagle, 1997)1 has been given on the basis of the relative importance of vegetation cover from point of view of ecotourism development. The table 1.1.shows the area under different NDVI values.
Land use/land cover map: After extraction of the study area, stratified approach has been adopted to generate land use/ land cover output obtained from digital classification of IRS 1D LISS III data by supervised mode with maximum likelihood algorithm using necessary ground truth information . Information gathering site visits pertaining to landuse/landcover substantiated the training sets during remotely sensed image classification by MXL classifier. The map is shown in the Fig. 1.4 and landuse statistics is given in table 1.2. and Fig 1.4.1.
Table 1.2 Land Use/Land Cover Statistics Of The Study Area
Soil Productivity Map: Soil map of the study area has been prepared on the basis of soil map of Midnapore prepared by National Bureau of Soil Survey (NBSS). According to NBSS & LUP nine types of soil found in this area, that has been sub grouped into three types of productivity level based on its texture, depth, moisture holdinbg capacity, erodivity level ete. (Fig 1.5). The area of highly productive soil within forest land have been considered for assessment and identification of potential ecotourism area by using the forest mask(Table1.3).
Generation of The Ecotourism Potential Map
These maps are taken as the parameters to evaluate the area of high ecological importance. For this purpose a weighted approach was adopted to identify the areas having Ecotourism potential. The input in the form of ARC /INFO coverages were assigned relative weightage in accordance to its influence/importance in decision making based on expert opinion, and each other class in the individual coverage was ranked according to its potential of being for being developed for Ecotourism. The higher the vegetation index and higher the soil productivity, higher will be the forest density, so such sites in the map (Fig 1.6) can be considered for conservation. The following formula is used to identify the Ecotourism potential sites.
Where i = 1,2,-------n
VD = Vegetation Density
LU/LC = Land use/Land Cover
SP = Soil Productivity
Result and Discussion
Ecotourism activities include bird watching, trekking, mountaineering, horse riding and elephant riding within the forest wilderness trail, staying in natural caves, studying about flora and fauna, simple bush walking, fishing, animal behavior study, ecological studies (Ramaswami,2000)6. Based on the existence of the different motivations of ecotourists, the destination area and type of nature tours should be diverse, as a diversified nature of tour industry is more economically viable and stable.
In order to get these informations the ecotourism potential map (Fig 1.6 ) has been analysed (Fig 1.6.1), which shows that 4.42% of area comes under highly potential ecotourism spots followed by 25.67% under moderately potential and 9.62% which comes under low potential are suitable for development of ecotourism infrastructure . Most of these sites fall under Salbani block, where maximum area are covered by forest followed by Garbeta III. These areas are mostly covered by natural dense forest that can be considered for conservation. This forest is a part of elephant migration corridor, from Saranda forest (East Singhbhum, Jharkhand) to the forest of North Bengal(Second Working plan ,1995-2015, Midnapore)12. The other blocks, Keshpur and Chandrakona I and II are having less ecotourism potential site, and so it can be used for ecotourism infrastructure development.
Planning For Ecotourism Infrastructure In the Study Area
In view of the result, the ecotourism planning can be done which can bring development of this underdeveloped area by employing the local people as well as by infrastructure development. Ecotourism being truly a form of environmentally conscious tourism and not just pursuit of remote pristine locations. It can be made sustainable with continuous capacity to safeguard natural environment as the very basis of tourism attraction (Ramaswami,2000)6.It should also provide and maintain the quality of tourist experience and satisfaction as well as benefit to the local people in the area. To fulfill this purpose, there is need to follow some guidelines which are highlighted below:
The proposal for above mentioned Ecotourism Infrastructure ( physical and service oriented facilities) have been provided under some selected patches. The selection of these patches has been done on the basis of minimum interference to the natural dense and open forest and agriculturally most productive zones. Four patches (Zone 1,Zone 2, Zone 3 and Zone 4) have been selected for placing of ecotourism facilities.
Zone 1:Tourist cottages/ rest houses, green hotels and restaurant, public convenience facilities
Zone 2: Tourist Information centre, conveyance Facilities, tourist guide map, public convenience facilities, Detail map of the ecotourism destination. tourist circuit map to show its link to other place of tourist interest Do and Don't board, medical aid facilities communication facilities etc. This has been chosen due to his location near entry point.
Zone 3: Tourist Information Centre, conveyance facilities elephant watchtower, public convenience facilities and
and Zone 4): Tourist cottages/ rest houses, Tourist Information Centre,Conveyance facilities elephant watchtower public convenience facilities.
Conclusion:
The study shows that the western part of the study area is highly potential for Ecotourism development, most of this part is endowed with lush green forests, wildlife as well as rich cultural heritage. Along with this it also fall under the elephant corridor of Jharkhand and West Bengal. So this area can be developed as Ecotourism destination by facilitating proper ecotourism infrastructure and services under policy guidelines. This will help to conserve and maintain the biological richness of the areas as well as economic upliftment of the local people by providing employment and opportunities in the field of ecotourism management.
Acknowledgement: Special thanks is given to the Regional Remote Sensing Service centre, ISRO Kharagpur for their kindness in providing infrastructure facilities and expertise for the generation of basic and requisite Maps of this paper and Mr R.N.Saha , AFO, Working Plan Division , Ratan Lal Banerji,DFO East Midnapore Forest Division ,A.N. Majumdar ,Abhijit Kaur Range officer, Arabari Range for providing forest data and required information.
References
Ecotourism has attracted increasing attention in recent years, not only as an alternative to mass tourism, but also as a means of economic development and environmental conservation. Being a nature based tourism; it takes into account the natural ecological attraction, their conservation and development. Its main aim is to safeguard the environment, making it beneficial to the local people by generating revenue and education and pleasure for the tourist.
Ecotourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in the tourism industry at present. The market for nature holidays is certainly a growing one. In 1993, the World Tourism Organization (WTO) has estimated that nature tourism generates 7 per cent of all international travel expenditure, where the total annual global earning from tourism is nearly $3 trillion and 212 million people are employed (Eagle, 1997) 1. Year 2002 has been declared as an International Year of Ecotourism (IYE) by the United Nations. This reflects its global importance.
Its evolution took place in western society to experience wild nature. It started in 1872 in the United States with Yellowstone Park, in 1879 in Australia with Royal Park and in 1885 in Canada with Banff Park and Niagara Falls to set aside natural areas for protection and recreation in the form of national parks.. There is a worldwide system of thousands of protected areas in all parts of the globe now. Since 1970, globally the number of protected areas has increased by 185%. The present area ,is 926,349,646 square kilometers, in parks which is an increase of 51.5% since 1970(Eagle,1997)1.
India has vast natural resources ranging from snow-capped mountains, blooming valleys, sea resorts, rolling rivers, dense forest, priceless mountains, temples and other places of heritages to vast desert areas, which can be important destinations for tourists (domestic and foreign). In spite of such bounties of nature and varieties of religion, culture and ethnicity, India accounts for only 0.4 % of the global tourism market and similar insignificant fraction of the world tourism revenue (West Bengal Tourism Report,1996)2. There is a need to develop tourist destination that can be managed scientifically to attract large number of international as well as domestic tourists.
Present study is an attempt to identify potential ecotourism sites in eastern India using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques in forest dominated area of western Midnapore, West Bengal. After identifying the potential sites, a demonstrative plan has been made for Ecotourism development based on locally available natural resources.
Study Area:
Study area includes five complete ranges (Chandrakona, Arabari, Nayabasat, Pirakata and Godapiyasal Forest Range), and two partial ranges (Midnapore range and Lalgarh range) of East Midnapore Forest Division of Midnapore District of West Bengal. From the administrative point of view, these area cover five blocks of northern Midnapore ie, Chandrakona I, Chandrakona II, Garbeta III, Salbani and Keshpur (Fig 1.1). The Midnapore, district lies in north of the Kasai River and is an agricultural-trade centre on the Grand Trunk Road from Calcutta to Amritsar. Kharagpur Railway Junction, across the river, provides major rail connections (Second Working plan ,1995-2015, Midnapore)10. The topography, soil, vegetation, drainage pattern, climate have played important role in growth of the region.
It is located in the North-Western part of the district extending between 22°57' to 22°23' North latitude and 87°27' & 87° East Longitude. In general, the area is underdeveloped due to poor agricultural economy and poor industrial base. Only 31.86 % people are workers and among them 83.79% are engaged in agricultural and forestry. The area is dominated by rural population, which is about 92.15%, and the percentage of urban population is only 6.85% living in three urban centres viz., Chandrakona Town, Khirpai and Ramjibanpur the north eastern part of the block (Census,1991)5.
The Western half of the study area is dominated by thick forest mainly of North Indian moist deciduous and North Eastern Tropical Dry deciduous forest consisting of dry peninsular sal. The significant forest resources with memorable historical past make it ideal place for Ecotourism development (Second Working plan ,1995-2015, Midnapore)11. This will contribute significantly to economic development if Ecotourism is developed by Forest Department by involving the local population as well as NGO and private organization.
Data Used:
Satellite data: IRS 1D LISS III (Path/Row: 108/55. 108/56, 109/55, 109/56)
IRS 1D PAN (Path/Row: 108/55B, 108/56D, 109/55A, 109/56B)
Ancillary Data: Census Data , District Planning map.
Methodology:
Ecotourism planning requires exploring diverse types of natural and cultural attractions along with demographic characteristics, to provide the base for designing the travel industry different from the mass tourism standard. To fulfill this purpose Remote Sensing and GIS approach has been used. The methodology is given in the Fig 1.2
IRS 1D LISS III Data has been used for the study. The study area was then extracted using the block map generated from the census data. The extracted digital data was further analyzed to generate vegetation density map, land use/land cover map and soil productivity map.
Vegetation Density Map: The information regarding the vegetation density can be of great help to identify and declare ecotourism potential site. In order to get these informations, NDVI approach has been used , which is highly correlated with vegetation parameter such as green leaf, biomass, leaf area and is indicator of photosynthetic activity and hence is of considerable value for vegetation discrimination and monitoring. NDVI values ranges between -1 to +1 and except vegetation, other features show either negative or zero NDVI values, using informations derived from NDVI, the study area is broadly classified into five categories among which the higher values show agricultural region while the most of the forest area fall under moderate value and lowest value reflect no vegetation, most of them are fallow or waste land. This has been shown in Fig 1.3.and 1.3.1.
The weightage (Eagle, 1997)1 has been given on the basis of the relative importance of vegetation cover from point of view of ecotourism development. The table 1.1.shows the area under different NDVI values.
Table 1.1 Vegetation Density of the Study Area
| NDVI VALUE | VEGETATION DENSITY | Area (sq km) |
| 0.624 - 0.50 | Very high | 33.24 |
| 0.4967- 0.353 | High | 137.92 |
| 0.34894- 0.201 | Moderate | 372.08 |
| 0.00398- 0.0019697 | Poor | 1073.38 |
| 0.000117-0.000126 | Very Poor | 79.02 |
Land use/land cover map: After extraction of the study area, stratified approach has been adopted to generate land use/ land cover output obtained from digital classification of IRS 1D LISS III data by supervised mode with maximum likelihood algorithm using necessary ground truth information . Information gathering site visits pertaining to landuse/landcover substantiated the training sets during remotely sensed image classification by MXL classifier. The map is shown in the Fig. 1.4 and landuse statistics is given in table 1.2. and Fig 1.4.1.
Table 1.2 Land Use/Land Cover Statistics Of The Study Area
| S.N. | LANDUSE CLASS | Area (sq km) | LANDUSE SUITABILITY |
| 1 | Dense forest | 49.57 | Highly important for ecotourism, can serve as main ecotourism attraction, area need to be conserved. |
| 2 | Open Forest | 148.47 | Very important for ecotourism, area needs to be managed and conserved properly to attract ecotourist as well as general tourist. |
| 3 | Degraded Forest | 227.89 | Need to be managed, properly with possibilities of new plantations. Important from point of view of medicinal plantations and agro-forestry scheme. |
| 4 | Cropped Area | 487.69 | Area under agriculture should not be converted to other schemes. Any infrastructure development should be restricted. |
| 5 | Agricultural fallow | 657.33 | It can be used fore agro-forestry scheme, land reclamation, for agricultural use or used for urban development. |
| 6 | Plantations | 33.57 | Plantation areas should be properly monitored and protected form and any encroachment. |
| 7 | Built up | 27.91 | Suitable for ecotourist Infrastructuredevelopment. |
| 8 | Wastelands | 47.72 | -do- |
| 9 | Water Bodies | 15.02 | Active Recreation as boating, park and natural zoological park. |
| 10 | Sandy areas | 1.98 | Not suitable. |
| Total | 1697.15 |
Soil Productivity Map: Soil map of the study area has been prepared on the basis of soil map of Midnapore prepared by National Bureau of Soil Survey (NBSS). According to NBSS & LUP nine types of soil found in this area, that has been sub grouped into three types of productivity level based on its texture, depth, moisture holdinbg capacity, erodivity level ete. (Fig 1.5). The area of highly productive soil within forest land have been considered for assessment and identification of potential ecotourism area by using the forest mask(Table1.3).
Table1.3 Soil Productivity of the Study Area
| SOIL CHARACTERISTICS | AREA (sq km) |
| Highly productive | 1037.10 |
| Moderately productive | 632.67 |
| Least productive | 22.08 |
Generation of The Ecotourism Potential Map
These maps are taken as the parameters to evaluate the area of high ecological importance. For this purpose a weighted approach was adopted to identify the areas having Ecotourism potential. The input in the form of ARC /INFO coverages were assigned relative weightage in accordance to its influence/importance in decision making based on expert opinion, and each other class in the individual coverage was ranked according to its potential of being for being developed for Ecotourism. The higher the vegetation index and higher the soil productivity, higher will be the forest density, so such sites in the map (Fig 1.6) can be considered for conservation. The following formula is used to identify the Ecotourism potential sites.
EPi = S(VDi + LU/LCi + SPi)
Where i = 1,2,-------n
VD = Vegetation Density
LU/LC = Land use/Land Cover
SP = Soil Productivity
Result and Discussion
Ecotourism activities include bird watching, trekking, mountaineering, horse riding and elephant riding within the forest wilderness trail, staying in natural caves, studying about flora and fauna, simple bush walking, fishing, animal behavior study, ecological studies (Ramaswami,2000)6. Based on the existence of the different motivations of ecotourists, the destination area and type of nature tours should be diverse, as a diversified nature of tour industry is more economically viable and stable.
In order to get these informations the ecotourism potential map (Fig 1.6 ) has been analysed (Fig 1.6.1), which shows that 4.42% of area comes under highly potential ecotourism spots followed by 25.67% under moderately potential and 9.62% which comes under low potential are suitable for development of ecotourism infrastructure . Most of these sites fall under Salbani block, where maximum area are covered by forest followed by Garbeta III. These areas are mostly covered by natural dense forest that can be considered for conservation. This forest is a part of elephant migration corridor, from Saranda forest (East Singhbhum, Jharkhand) to the forest of North Bengal(Second Working plan ,1995-2015, Midnapore)12. The other blocks, Keshpur and Chandrakona I and II are having less ecotourism potential site, and so it can be used for ecotourism infrastructure development.
Planning For Ecotourism Infrastructure In the Study Area
In view of the result, the ecotourism planning can be done which can bring development of this underdeveloped area by employing the local people as well as by infrastructure development. Ecotourism being truly a form of environmentally conscious tourism and not just pursuit of remote pristine locations. It can be made sustainable with continuous capacity to safeguard natural environment as the very basis of tourism attraction (Ramaswami,2000)6.It should also provide and maintain the quality of tourist experience and satisfaction as well as benefit to the local people in the area. To fulfill this purpose, there is need to follow some guidelines which are highlighted below:
- Sustainable development of ecotourism requires the balance between three elements the tourists, the place and the host community". Therefore, at management level Government should involve local people along with NGO and private organization
- To maintain visitor satisfaction in crowded locales and protection of natural features, and to maintain high quality of service there is need to assess the carrying capacity of the potential site at planning level.
- Generally the ecotourism destination is developed in eco-fragile area, which has time specific attraction. The duration of visit and activity pattern of the tourist should be decided by implementing authorities to maintain natural harmony.
- Proper ecotourism legislation and environmental measures should be framed and along with this strict enforcement measures should be imposed at eco-destination.
- Along with this there is also need for publicity and advertisement of ecotourism destinations, Environmental group accreditation (tour operator) and adequate funding to maintain the environmental quality of the potential ecotourism destinations.
- Minimum interference to the dense
(density >60%) and open forest (density between 40-60%) site
and cropped land.
- This will occupy mostly the land falling
under degraded forest, scrubland, agricultural fallow etc.
The proposal for above mentioned Ecotourism Infrastructure ( physical and service oriented facilities) have been provided under some selected patches. The selection of these patches has been done on the basis of minimum interference to the natural dense and open forest and agriculturally most productive zones. Four patches (Zone 1,Zone 2, Zone 3 and Zone 4) have been selected for placing of ecotourism facilities.
Zone 1:Tourist cottages/ rest houses, green hotels and restaurant, public convenience facilities
Zone 2: Tourist Information centre, conveyance Facilities, tourist guide map, public convenience facilities, Detail map of the ecotourism destination. tourist circuit map to show its link to other place of tourist interest Do and Don't board, medical aid facilities communication facilities etc. This has been chosen due to his location near entry point.
Zone 3: Tourist Information Centre, conveyance facilities elephant watchtower, public convenience facilities and
and Zone 4): Tourist cottages/ rest houses, Tourist Information Centre,Conveyance facilities elephant watchtower public convenience facilities.
Conclusion:
The study shows that the western part of the study area is highly potential for Ecotourism development, most of this part is endowed with lush green forests, wildlife as well as rich cultural heritage. Along with this it also fall under the elephant corridor of Jharkhand and West Bengal. So this area can be developed as Ecotourism destination by facilitating proper ecotourism infrastructure and services under policy guidelines. This will help to conserve and maintain the biological richness of the areas as well as economic upliftment of the local people by providing employment and opportunities in the field of ecotourism management.
Acknowledgement: Special thanks is given to the Regional Remote Sensing Service centre, ISRO Kharagpur for their kindness in providing infrastructure facilities and expertise for the generation of basic and requisite Maps of this paper and Mr R.N.Saha , AFO, Working Plan Division , Ratan Lal Banerji,DFO East Midnapore Forest Division ,A.N. Majumdar ,Abhijit Kaur Range officer, Arabari Range for providing forest data and required information.
References
- Eagles,P.J."International Ecotourism Management : Using Australia and Africa as Case Studies, Protected Areas in the 21st Century: From Islands to Networks, Albany, Australia, Nov.1997"- Paper prepared for the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, Protected Areas in the 21st Century:From Islands to Networks,Albany, Australia http://www.ahs.uwaterloo.ca/rec/ecotour.htm
- Department of Tourism , Govt. of West Bengal " West Bengal Tourism Poliicy,1996" 2000, Calcutta.
- Geer,J.D. "Natural Resource Management Using Remote Sensing and GIS",Texax,1998.
- Nagendra,H. "Biodiversity in the Western Ghats" GIS Development: IS At Development, vo.2, sep-oct 1999, pp-36-41,New Delhi.
- National Informatics Centre, "Distrct Census Data, Midnapore" 1991.
- Ramaswami,N. and John,J."Ecotourism A Sustainable Option Need For Effective Planning" Published as report on AICTE Short Term Training Programme Through on Emerging Trends in Planning, pp-A2.1-A2.8, Nov.2000,Kollam.
- Roy,P.S. "Remote Sensing Application for
Forest and Environment :Retrospective and Perspective" Proceeding
of ISRS National Symposium Jan 1999,Pub by: ISRS and NNRMS , pp
169-185.
- Singh,R.B. and Murai,S. (eds) "Space Infrormatics for Sustainable Development, Oxford &IBH Publishing Co. PVT. LTD, New Delhi, Calcutta, 1998.
- Tewari,A.K. "Remote Sensing Application in Forestry and Environment: Retrospectives and Perspectives" in Proceeding of ISRS National Symposium" Jan 1999,Pub by: ISRS and NNRMS , pp Working Plan Division, Midnapore. "Second Working Plan For the Reserved and protected and unclassed forest of East Midnapore Forest division (1995-2015). Part I .
- Working Plan Division, Midnapore. "Second Working Plan For the Reserved and protected and unclassed forest of East Midnapore Forest division (1995-2015). Part I
- Working Plan Division, Midnapore. "Second Working Plan For the Reserved and protected and unclassed forest of East Midnapore Forest division (1995-2015). Part II
- Working Plan Division, Midnapore. "Second Working Plan For the Reserved and protected and unclassed forest of East Midnapore Forest division (1995-2015). Part III