Status of Riparian Buffer Zone and floodplain areas of River Narmada, India

Riparian buffer zone is an area of trees, usually accompanied by shrubs and other vegetations along a river, stream or shoreline that is managed to maintain the integrity of the waterway to reduce pollution and to provide food, habitat and thermal protection for fish and other aquatic life. They provide an extensive list of benefits to both man and the environment because of their unique position between land and water. To assess the status of Riparian Buffer Zone (RBZ) along flood plain areas of a selected reach of river Narmada, an extensive survey was carried out on left and right banks. The observations made during the survey reveal that RBZs and floodplain areas were dominated by agricultural practices on both banks. The results depicted that agricultural practices and human habitation contribute 57.5% and 16.5% respectively, different types of vegetation like shrubs covers 1.5%, bushes 9.5%, pasture land 7%, barren land 6% and erosion approx 2% which shows that ecological conditions of river is directly disturbed due to excessive human interventions.