Journal of Geography, Environment and Earth Science International

The land use is nothing but the utilization of the land for various purposes and land cover refers to biological and physical materials on the earth’s surface. The land use and land cover is very essential for better understanding of landscape dynamics during a known period having sustainable management. Land Use / Land Cover (LULC) maps describe the vegetation, water and natural features on the land surface. Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) maps are crucial for understanding and managing human and environmental impacts on landscapes, particularly in agriculture, urban development as well as in climate change. It provides a baseline for monitoring change, facilitates resource management and planning and support sustainable development. The present study was undertaken for the Upper Ghod river basin, in Pune district, Maharashtra, India with the objectives of preparing of Land Use / Land Cover (LULC) map and changes in LULC dynamics using remote sensing and GIS. The geographical area of the region under study is 4054.5 km², which is located in semi- arid region of Maharashtra. 

The LULC were generated using QGIS software for different classes, which were prepared using LISS-III images for the year 2008 and 2018 with supervised image classification (Maximum likelihood classifier). The six land use classes, viz. agricultural, settlement, waste land, water body, open scrub and forest were generated. The study revealed that the area under wasteland decreased by 15 % in the span of 10 years. The change in settlement and agriculture is detected to be increased by 143.51% and 3.78% respectively, whereas the area in water bodies was increased by 9.11%. In addition, the area under forest canopy was reduced in the protected regions by 19.45 %. The open scrub is reduced by 22.56 % in the span of one decade. Institutional factors that improved access to water resources were the major drivers of change, especially in the context of agriculture. The study demonstrates the use of satellite remote sensing techniques for monitoring LULC, for predicting the future land use changes and aids in planning adaptation strategies for sustainable development.