Introduction
| India is one of those countries in South-East Asia, perhaps in the world to have a very rich floral and faunal diversity. The floral and faunal richness is due to the fact that India has very varied climatic zones fostering almost all kind of forest/vegetation from tropical to alpine. Tropical forest area well known for their capacity to support varied life forms. Tropical forest harbour 45-50% of all the species known to man. In India alone over 45,000 species of plants occur, of which there are about 15,000 vascular plant species (conservative estimate), (Lal, 1992). It is reported that about 1/’3rd of the species are endemic to India. Similarly, diversity of fauna is equally impressive. The present century has seen a rapid increase in the human population especially in India. Increase in population demanded more food and fuel wood and to augment the demands the forests were converted into agricultural land and also cut to meet the fuel wood requirements. Increase in cattle population has further aggravated the situation. The amount of pressure on our forest can be inferred from the fact that India has barely 2% of world’s land under forest and has 15% of the world’s human population and 14% of the world’s cattle population. Under these circumstances the preservation of biodiversity becomes a challenging task.
In India we are poised with two types of challenges – firstly to provide food. Shelter and clothing to the rapidly expanding population and secondly to keep our wild genetic natural resources intact. Land is the most important natural resource which embodies soil, water and associated flora and fauna involving the total ecosystem. Forests have been considered as open and inexhaustible treasure and have been exploited by man to meet day to day requirements. Due to large scale diversion of forests into agricultural land and over exploitation of the remaining forests, we have only 19.5% of the country’s geographic area under forest cover now. Sustainable development is the key to check any further loss of biodiversity. Sustainable development is defined as the development of natural resources to meet the immediate needs of the present population and requirement of future generations without anyway endangering the ecology and environment. In the recent past Forest Survey of India (FSI), National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Space Application Centre and Regional Remote Sensing Service Centers have done commendable work in forest mapping. First ever nationwide forest mapping was done by NRSA using two periods data (1972-75 and 1980-82). The latest status of forest cover is 640,107 km2 in the country (FSI, 1993) based on 1989-91 satellite data. Madhya Pradesh has 95,537 km2 of dense forest (crown density > 40%) and 39,859 km2 of open forest (crown density 10% to 40%) making it 135,396 km2 i.e. 21.25% of the total forest (640,107 km2) in India (FSI, 1993). The state has 11 National Parks and 31 sanctuaries (Anonymous, 1992). 1.1 REMOTE SENSING Remote Sensing has unique characteristics, and the benefits it offers include large area uniformity, repetitive coverage, the facility of visual presentation and communication, the possibility to overlay multi-temporal data to monitor change in vegetation cover, the possibility to combine the advantages of manual and digital analyses, combining the visual elements (Zonneveld, 1988). In the last two decades remote sensing technology has proved beyond doubt its utilities in any country’s resource management. The technology is being used world over for management of various natural resources viz. mapping and monitoring. Aerospace remote sensing data are being from sixth decade onwards. Satellite data are available from 1973 onwards for mapping and monitoring. Various satellites like Landsat series (1-5), SPOT series (1-2), IRS series (1-2) etc. provide data in visible to middle infrared range. ERS-1 provides data in microwave region which is not affected by climatic conditions like rains, clouds, darkness etc. Launch of Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS-1A) in 1988 has given an opportunity to map and monitor our natural resources at a very low cost. The continuity of data acquisition has been ensured by the launch of IRS-1B. Present series has a ground resolution of about 72m and 36.5m from LISS-I and LISS-II sensors, respectively. Future IRS series will have a spatial resolution of about 8m which will be useful in delineation of smaller objects. The multiple utility of IRS data has been demonstrated through pilot studies of forestry, flood zone mapping, soil mapping, environmental impact assessment, urban sprawl mapping (Karale, 1992). Geographic Information System (GIS) offers linking and analysis of spatial and non-spatial data. This computer assisted technology helps to overlay several maps and provides capability to “see through” different layers. GIS technology is being used for various application in natural resource management viz. habitat suitability, landscape analysis, wasteland development planning, zonation of fire prone areas, impact assessment, afforestation site selection, land capability analysis etc. (Burrough, 1990; Lillesand and Keifer, 1987). 1.2 PROJECT BACKGROUND Narmada Sagar and Omkareshwar projects are multipurpose river valley projects meant for irrigation, power generation and industrial and domestic water supply. These projects will increase the net irrigated area in Madhya Pradesh. After the operationalization of these multipurpose projects around 96,000 ha of land and population of 2,20000 will be displaced (Anonymous I.c.). Under this background Wildlife Institute of India has carried out an impact assessment study of Narmada Sagar and Omkareshwar projects on flora and fauna with attendant human aspects (Anonymous 1994). The study has investigated the floral and faunal values that would be lost due to the proposed inundation by the two projects. The study proposed setting a protected area network around the submergence areas as a part of the mitigatory strategy. Fore conservation, management and monitoring it is essential to generate baseline data about the natural resources like vegetation cover, water, landuse and geomorphology information in the Proposed Protected Areas (PPA). Remote sensing technology with its unique benefits and characteristic is the obvious choice to generate baseline data. Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) collaborated it develop a database on flora, fauna, geomorphology, water resource and landuse using remote sensing data. The major aim of this study was to generate the Vaseline data using remote sensing technology and create database in Geographic Information System (GIS) domain for further analysis. The objectives ser to achieve the aim were – (i) Preparation of base map encompassing PPA boundary and forest compartments. (ii) Preparation of Vegetation type and cover map. (iii) Preparation of Landuse map. (iv) Preparation of Geomorphology map and (v) Creation and Analysis of database in GIS domain. This information will be used to monitor subsequent changes that could occur in the PPA and also to help in preparing conservation and management plan for the PPA. The report is presented in seven chapters. Chapter one and two deal with the general introduction and description of the study area respectively. Chapter three, four, five and six deal with the mapping of compartments, vegetation, landuse and geomorphology of the proposed protected areas. Conclusion is presented in Chapter seven |
| Inside cover | Preface | List of maps | List of plates |
| List of tables | Introduction | Study area | Compartment map of the proposed protected areas |
| Vegetation mapping | Landuse mapping | Geomorpho-logical mapping | Conclusion |
| References |
Last Updated: January 21, 2014
