Land use land cover change and human – Environment interaction: the case of Lahaul valley

Earth being the home of man any amount of human change brought about by developmental or other processes of change leaves an imprint on the earth's surface and this may best be studied through the process of land use and land cover change. Timely and accurate change detection of Earth's surface features is extremely important for understanding relationships and interactions between human and natural phenomena in order to promote better decision making. The present research paper studies the change in land use and land cover in the Lahaul valley over the last almost four decades viz. 1976, 1989, 2000, 2011. The analysis was carried out with the intent of understanding the change in man – environment relationship as it is expressed over the physical landscape.

For the purpose of the present study a multi-pronged methodology was adopted. Land use and land cover patterns at different points in time viz. 1976, 1989, 2000 and 2011 were analysed and compared. Data for this purpose was procured in the form of satellite imageries from LANDSAT. The sensors that collected this data were Multi Spectral Scanner (MSS), Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+). The images were taken during the month of October (first week) when there is least possibility of disturbances and noise in the atmosphere. The snows have melted and the fresh snow is yet to fall. Base line information was obtained from the toposheets of the study area. The toposheets was at a scale of 1:250k. The resolution of the imageries was sixty meters for the 1976 imageries and for the rest was thirty meters.

The study indicates large scale modification of the valley. Both bio-physical and socioeconomic forces are to account for this. There is an expansion in both the area under agriculture and the area under settlements. While this is likely to result in a further change in the man – environment interaction, it is also not without cultural implications for the study area.