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The relentless march of urban expansion has ushered in profound and transformative alterations in land-use changes and recording huge environmental decline in the domain of metropolitan areas. This current study, as a beacon of exploration, strives to unfurl the intricate nature of urban expansion and spatio-temporal mosaic of land use dynamics evolution in Kolkata Metropolitan Region. The population data was gleaned from Census of India and annals of Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority documents. Similarly, temporal satellite images have been used for this study, which were downloaded from the Landsat Archive Level 1 data products of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Explorer. Multi-temporal satellite images were analysed with the aid of Geographical Information Systems and the insightful inspection of Remote Sensing spatial data analysis methods. The maximum likelihood supervised classification methods were used for categorization of specific land cover and land use pattern. The analysis in the study identified the changes in the land-use patten and the land-cover by deploying post-classification change detection and GIS-based spatial analysis methods. After scrutinising the study outcomes, it was found that built-up areas had been drastically increased. The tapestry of fallow land, agricultural land, open space, natural vegetation cover, and wetlands have been sacrificed at the expense of the rapid growth of the built-up area. The study result shows the land use and land cover change; in 1991, the built-up area was 18.9%, and in 2021 it reached 48.5%. This study manifested that the swift surge in the built-up area and in the tendrils of urban expansion took place from 1991 to 2021. Focus Group Discussions complemented with in-depth interview results threw light on the direct correlation between urban expansion and unequivocal shifts in the pattern of land use in the metropolitan region. Kolkata Metropolitan Region's planning system should work on comprehensive framework that would be in harmony with the exacerbated vulnerability of land to environmental deterioration stemming from urban sprawl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the twenty-first century, land use changes, massive expansion of urbanization, population growth, economic crisis, environmental issues are the main challenges of developing countries. Climate change and its effects on human health are the major concerns for the different age groups of the population. The study delved into the causes associated with climate change and climate change-related myriad health impacts on the study population. This study has used a concurrent mixed-method research design. The quantitative and qualitative data were collected from the study area. Perception and knowledge about climate change and its consequences on health was based on a quantitative approach of Bi-variate analysis and Chi-Square test and Fisher's exact test; this study also used qualitative data analysis. Study results show that most respondents pointed out that temperature increases throughout the year and 90% of the respondents reported that rainfall pattern has also changed. Similarly, 65% of respondents agreed in their statements in favour of increased natural calamities in this region. The study findings show that more than 40% of population faces dengue fever and 10% of people also suffer from malaria. More than 60% of the urban population suffered from asthma. Similarly, more than 70% of the population also got affected by cold and cough due to weather variability. Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and In-depth interviews of the participants also affirmed the fact that climate variability induced diseases and health problems in Kolkata Metropolitan areas. Urban residents perceived that excessive urbanization contributes to the changes in regional climate and human health. The study will encourage the policy-makers and local government to mitigate adverse health effects driven by climate change in the Kolkata Metropolitan Region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical cyclones are very destructive natural hazards that often result in casualties, economic loss, and environmental degradation, especially in the coastal communities. Gaja, categorized as a severe cyclone struck the southeast coast of India on November 16, 2018 and devastated thousands of people in the six districts of the State of Tamil Nadu, India; two years since, many are still reeling from its aftermath. In this study, to assess the 1) preparedness of the community, 2) physio-socio-economic-environment impacts, and 3) post-phase response and recovery, various methodologies were adopted. A total of 18 villages were selected based on the land track of the cyclone for field visits and questionnaire survey. Field data, satellite image processing, and review of report indicated that more than 3/4th of the population, ~ 90 percent of the built-up areas, ~ 40 percent of the vegetation and agricultural crops were severely affected by the cyclone. Even though the community were warned about the cyclone trajectories, only 3/4th of them took precautionary measures to mitigate the effects. The State government has played a major role in evacuating people to safe shelters, bringing back communication to the affected areas, and has also provided some sort of compensation to the victims. In addition to the efforts of the government, volunteers have also offered immediate relief to the affected communities. However, even after one year of the cyclone, only less than 20 percent of the community have completely recovered from the devastation. The results of this study will help comprehend the different phases of cyclone management and formulate better cyclone hazard management plans in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]