Track 1-1-1: Global Database on Availability, Productivity and Composition of Grasslands, Forests and Protected Areas

Description

The spatio-temporal condition and trend of grasslands in India at village-level is still not known completely. Historical and contemporary monitoring and assessment protocols are primarily based on the wisdom, knowledge and experience of village-level revenue officer (patwari) which is just significant from the statistical point of view. Contrastingly, such grassland areas are considered to be of high priority by government authorities for the long-term conservation of biodiversity. Protection, development and sustainable use of grasslands are very important for the rural economy and livestock. The major grasslands now survive west of isohyets 200 to 250 mm rainfall where livestock population is more than human beings. Animal husbandry plays such an important role in the lifestyle and economics of the inhabitants, scientific management of the grasslands, on which the animals depend for nourishment, is totally neglected. Pastoralism has coexisted within dry lands for decades. The constant pressure from an increasing human population and anthropogenic activities, particularly mining, has caused considerable damage to this unique desert grassland ecosystem. Several important grasslands have been converted to agricultural fields and the pressure to convert more grassland into such uses is mounting. Area under grasslands in the Jodhpur district has declined very sharply. It was 6.4% in 1976 (Sen, 1978) but has been reduced to < 1.5% of the district area. Grasslands are one of the important classes of land use mapping exercise. The aim of the present project was to identify and map all grasslands and grazing areas in the Jodhpur district using spectral signatures of 2012-13 high resolution satellite data of Cartosat LISS-IV plus PAN merged and compare with 1976-77 and 2005-06 data. There is a need to sustain and conserve grasslands at grassroots level because these are the important life-supporting mechanism of the dry region. There is an immediate scope for the spatial and temporal scale dependence of assessment tools for grassland monitoring and undertaking research at village-to district-scales to incorporate geographic information systems and satellite remote sensing data, as well as new ecological concepts from landscape ecology and complex systems science.

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Mapping of Thar Desert Grasslands Using High Resolution Carto-Data (A Case Study of Jodhpur District)

The spatio-temporal condition and trend of grasslands in India at village-level is still not known completely. Historical and contemporary monitoring and assessment protocols are primarily based on the wisdom, knowledge and experience of village-level revenue officer (patwari) which is just significant from the statistical point of view. Contrastingly, such grassland areas are considered to be of high priority by government authorities for the long-term conservation of biodiversity. Protection, development and sustainable use of grasslands are very important for the rural economy and livestock. The major grasslands now survive west of isohyets 200 to 250 mm rainfall where livestock population is more than human beings. Animal husbandry plays such an important role in the lifestyle and economics of the inhabitants, scientific management of the grasslands, on which the animals depend for nourishment, is totally neglected. Pastoralism has coexisted within dry lands for decades. The constant pressure from an increasing human population and anthropogenic activities, particularly mining, has caused considerable damage to this unique desert grassland ecosystem. Several important grasslands have been converted to agricultural fields and the pressure to convert more grassland into such uses is mounting. Area under grasslands in the Jodhpur district has declined very sharply. It was 6.4% in 1976 (Sen, 1978) but has been reduced to < 1.5% of the district area. Grasslands are one of the important classes of land use mapping exercise. The aim of the present project was to identify and map all grasslands and grazing areas in the Jodhpur district using spectral signatures of 2012-13 high resolution satellite data of Cartosat LISS-IV plus PAN merged and compare with 1976-77 and 2005-06 data. There is a need to sustain and conserve grasslands at grassroots level because these are the important life-supporting mechanism of the dry region. There is an immediate scope for the spatial and temporal scale dependence of assessment tools for grassland monitoring and undertaking research at village-to district-scales to incorporate geographic information systems and satellite remote sensing data, as well as new ecological concepts from landscape ecology and complex systems science.