Impact of land use-land cover on socio-economic status of Bedti, Kulagi and Achave watersheds of Gangavali River Basin, Dharwad and Uttarakannada districts, Karnataka

Land resources form a basis for economic development of any area. Information on land resources is of paramount importance in geographical studies. Population, resource availability, economic growth and environmental impact are strongly inter-linked. Integrated management of natural resources on watershed basis has been accepted as the most effective approach for sustainable development. For planning of natural resources, especially land, water and vegetation to the socio-economic need of local community concerned, the watershed approach is most useful. The Bedti, Kulagi and Achave watersheds of Gangavali River Basin, Dharwad and Uttarakannada districts, Karnataka, are selected for the study. Numbers of maps has been prepared using SOI topographical maps and IRS IC-LISS and PAN 2001 data of 1:50,000 scale. Socio-economic data collected during field survey have been used. Relationship between land use-land cover and its impact on socio-economic status in the watersheds have been highlighted in this paper.