Remote Sensing for Change Detection of Land Use in Bandol and Bijna Nala Micro-Watershed, Madhya Pradesh

Satellite remote sensing with its enhanced capabilities is proving to be an effective tool for assessing the conditions of natural resources on the real time basis. In present study, the technique was used for Bandol and Bijna Nala Micro-watershed of Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh badly affected by water scarcity and degraded landuse pattern and consequental low agricultural productivity. The area was taken up under Rajiv Gandhi Mission for Watershed Management (RGMWM) project for sustainable development and improvement in the year 1994 through participatory approach with strong support of Madhya Pradesh Council of Science and Technology (MPCOST). The present study stresses on impact assessment of the project interventions on land use and land cover in the area. Visual Interpretation of IRS-1B, LISS-II data of the study area for the year 1992 and 1997 was done by using False Colour Composite (FCC) 1:50,000 scales. The whole process of visual interpretation was classified into four stages. In the first stage, pre-field interpretations were made. The FCC imagery of chosen sensor IRS-1B, LISS-II, dia-positive data of the area were interpreted based on image manifestation. The boundaries of land use/land cover classes were drawn on transparent overlays and aggregated by graphical overlay procedure. In the second stage ground truth verification of visually interpreted data was performed for about 10 to 15% of the total project area. In the third stage, pre-field interpretation was suitably modified with respect to both class and their boundaries, guided by the ground truth data. Areas under the different land use categories were estimated for the study area. In the fourth stage, fair drawing originals were prepared as per pre-designed specifications and cartographic symbols on transparent sheets. Analysis of the land used pattern of both the years indicated 9.5% increase in agricultural land, 150% in double cropping and 54% increase in rabi crop area. The area under forests was also found to increase by 31.2%, the water bodies by 5.8% whereas wasteland area registered a decrease of 32.4%. Temporal change in drainage density and its pattern was also observed.