This document summarizes a study that analyzed land use and land cover changes on Jharkhali Island in the Sundarbans region of West Bengal, India between 1990 and 2010 using remote sensing and GIS techniques. The objectives were to classify land cover, determine changes in vegetation cover, and evaluate the socioeconomic implications. Supervised classification and change detection methods revealed accretion of new land, a shift to more anthropogenic land uses, and ongoing pressure on the local ecology from population growth. Similar changes were found to be occurring elsewhere in the Sundarbans region.

1. Application of Remote Sensing and GIS in the
analysis of Land Use/ Land Cover study of Jharkhali
Island, Sundarbans, West Bengal.
Author :
Aditya Shreshtkar,
Final Year B.Tech Environmental Engineering, Indian School Of Mines, Dhanbad
National Climate
Change Conference,
IISc Bengaluru
2-3 July, 2015

2. Introduction
• Land use and land cover change has
become a central component in
current strategies for managing
natural resources and monitoring
environmental changes.
• Population Explosion in the Sundarban
regions have cost drastic change in
Land Use/ Land Cover patterns.
• Study Area is a World Heritage Site
(UNESCO, 1989), contains substantial
part of Namakhana R.F. and have few
Ramsar Sites.
• Use of technologies like Remote
Sensing and GIS comes very handy in
study of such large spatial areas and
phenomenons.
KEYWORDS : Sundarbans Remote Sensing & GIS Landuse Change Population Pressure
Study Area
Objectives
• To create a land cover classification
scheme and determine the land use &
land cover changes.
• To analyse the change in the
vegetation cover.
• To generate data on land consumption
and land absorption coefficient
• To evaluate the socio-economic
implication of the change.
Methodology
• Time Series Analysis of LULC for two
epochs : 1990 and 2010
• Maximum Likelihood Supervised
Classification
• Preparation of Vegetation Maps using
NDVI
• Change Detection using Image
Differencing, DNDVI and Overlay
Operations.
Results and Implications
• The landuse change dynamics of Jharkhali island
indicate prolonged anthropogenic pressure on a
fragile ecological niche of the Sundarbans.
• Accretion of Land
• Shift in economic practices.
• There are other areas in Gosaba and Hingalganj
where similar changes have taken place in recent
times.