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Land use land cover (LULC) assessment is essential for monitoring naturally available land resources through spatio-temporal changing pattern to protect land resources sustainably. The primary objective is to identify the changing pattern in LULC over last 10 years in Imphal-Iril catchment. Multi-spectral datasets of Landsat 7 and 8 were used for five different time periods (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019). Supervised classification method was employed to generate the classified LULC maps using the maximum likelihood classifier approach in ArcGIS 10.3. In this assessment, five major land use classes have been classified as vegetation, agriculture, settlement, barren land and water body, and the dominant land cover is vegetation. The classified images obtained from this technique were checked for their accuracy using statistical kappa co-efficient and overall accuracy. According to this study, settlement and barren areas have been significantly increased by 72.25% (39.03 km2) and 22.60% (118.29 km2) during the last 10 years, whereas areas assigned to agriculture, vegetation and water bodies have decreased by 27.26% (72.16 km2), 7.59% (73.22 km2) and 60.39% (11.94 km2), respectively. LULC map for the year 2030 was also predicted using MOLUSCE model in QGIS. The results of this assessment will be significant to the policy implicates for sustainable LULC management in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the significant agrarian transformations in India's Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is witnessing a rapid transition into commercial farming and, simultaneously, an increasing trend of deagrarianisation. The study uses a mixed-method approach to investigate why farmers adopt commercial farming in this region and how the processes of deagrarianisation, reconfiguration of land use, and deepening commodification have become inevitable for many small and medium-scale farmers as a result of this process. In the analysis, our empirically tested theoretical model confirms that institutional factors in terms of state support work as a significant driver toward commercialisation. We then argue that combined with the stimulus of the state, a vigorous process of neo-extractivism is being promoted, which renders the substantive changes in agrarian transitions by displacing the subsistence sector. The study highlights that this contemporary commercialisation is altering the social and physical landscape and driving broader forms of dispossession and consolidation of farmlands at micro-levels. Furthermore, it raises questions about the fundamental role of the Indian state's neo-extractivist policies in a politically contested region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil erosion is one of the major environmental concerns, causing a reduction in soil carbon stock and soil fertility. It is generally difficult to estimate soil erosion in hilly terrains. To overcome this, different types of erodibility indices are developed and used to describe the intensity of soil erosion. The present study was conducted in Nagaland state of northeast India, where clay ratio (CR), modified clay ratio (MCR), critical level of organic matter (CLOM) and erodibility factor (K) were used to assess the severity of soil erosion under different land uses. To study these, soil samples from forest, jhum, fallow jhum and tea gardens were collected from 0 to 30 cm soil depth. The results showed that sand and clay content were significantly different under different land uses, while soil organic carbon (SOC) and stocks followed the same trend, with maximum and minimum values under tea (60.55 t C ha–1 ) and jhum lands (40.74 t C ha–1 ) respectively. Among the different erodibility indices, only CR and MCR values were found to be significantly different from each other. Higher values of CR and MCR under jhum and fallow jhum lands indicate that these land uses are more prone to erosion. The present study provides a picture of severity of soil erosion under different land uses in Nagaland and recommends that CR and MCR can be used to evaluate soil erosion in hilly terrain areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands envisages the significance of various wetland types, including playas, attributing magnitude to their ecological value, biodiversity, and role in ecosystem services. However, both natural influences such as shifts in seasonal rainfall cycles, and anthropogenic factors like urbanization are determinantal in the sustenance of the wetlands. This study focuses on Kanjli wetland, a Ramsar site influenced by a mélange of natural and human-driven forces affecting its hydrological dynamics. Situated in the agricultural plains of Punjab, India, this research endeavors to gauge the impacts of changing land use in the surroundings of Kanjli wetland. A mixed-method approach is employed, Landsat satellite images from 1990 and 2022 are initially classified to assess landscape transformations. Subsequently, primary data is collected and analyzed through fieldwork conducted in villages neighboring the wetland area. The statistically processed results indicate that approximately 85 percent of encroachment in the study area stems from infrastructural developments, exhibiting both positive and negative implications for the wetland ecosystem. The ensuing discussion underscores the imperative of conserving and sustainably managing the unique ecosystems of Ramsar wetlands in alignment with the core objectives of the Ramsar Convention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited information is available on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission rates in the peri-urban agricultural systems. This information is necessary for the changing paradigm of climate-smart agriculture with less carbon footprint. The decreasing trends in water availability, agricultural area and productivity, and negative changes in agricultural land use patterns make agriculture, especially fruit and vegetable cultivation in peri-urban areas of Hyderabad city, in India, highly vulnerable to climatic variations. Hence a study was contemplated to develop a methodological framework to study the changes in land, water and energy use and their impact on GHG emissions and, thereby, on agricultural production and productivity. Variations in GHG emissions and carbon credit in the identified peri-urban sites were calculated using the accounting framework with respect to changes in land use and energy usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's world, by integrating remote sensing technology and modern state-of-the-art machine learning techniques, obtaining Land Use Land Cover (LULC) maps has become easier in comparison to traditional manual methods. The performance of a Machine Learning classifier is influenced by various factors. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of sampling design in rough complex terrain located in the Northern Himalayan region in Uttarakhand state, India, where reference data is often limited due to the geographical characteristics of the study area. Three sampling design strategies have been incorporated in this study, namely, stratified random sampling with a proportional number of samples (SRS)proportional, stratified random sampling with an equal number of samples (SRS)equivalent and stratified systematic sampling with an equal number of samples with a minimum distance of 10 m between the consecutive samples (SSS)D = 10 m for the LULC classification. In this study, Sentinel-2 data of 10 m spatial resolution for the study area of Dehradun district, Uttarakhand, India, has been selected. The following conclusions can be drawn from the results of this study (i) (SRS)proportional achieved the highest Overall Accuracy (OA) among all the three sampling techniques. The OA and kappa score (ka) using (SRS)proportional are OA = 90.25 and ka = 0.874 by Random Forest, OA = 88.84 and ka = 0.856 by Support Vector Machine and k Nearest Neighbours (kNN) obtained OA = 87.72 and ka = 0.842, respectively. (ii) It was found that in the case of (SRS)proportional, the majority classes like the deciduous forest, evergreen forest and cropland achieved higher recall and precision values in comparison to those obtained from the other two sampling strategies, i.e. (SRS)equivalent and (SSS)D = 10 m. (iii) The results showed that while switching from (SRS)proportional to (SRS)equivalent or from (SRS)proportional to (SSS)D = 10 m, there was a slight reduction in the precision and recall values for the majority classes and a slight increase for a few of the minority classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The absence of an integrated geospatial database hinders effective decision-making among various stakeholders in national projects and programs. The study aimed to create an integrated geospatial database for the Manesar tehsil, District Gurugram, Haryana. Another objective was to create a land use map to analyze the temporal change in land use patterns and its socioeconomic impact along the surrounding areas. The first stage of the study involved creating an integrated database after interviewing different stakeholders. In the second stage, the satellite imagery was georeferenced using Ground Control Points, and the land use patterns were digitized using Landsat imagery for 1987, 2011, 2014, and 2022. The study suggested that the construction area has grown up to 6% while cultivation has dropped significantly from 76% in 1987 to 50% in 2022. Likewise, the industrial area has grown up to 2% and natural vegetation dropped in coverage from 11% to 4%. The area witnessed a population growth rate of 3.2% per year and a decadal growth rate of 39.7%. Less than 50% of the land in the tehsil is used for agricultural purposes. It estimates that 4% of the tehsil's entire surface was covered by natural vegetation in 2019, down from 11% in 1987. The study recommends the creation of an integrated geospatial database that will help reduce duplication and speed up decision-making in government. This will pave the way for improving e-governance in local bodies. The framework created for developing the database system is universally applicable and can be used appropriately by other states, regions, and the entire country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last three decades, the Government of India (GOI) has used watershed management as a solution to solve issues concerning sustainable agricultural output in rainfed areas. Additionally, since 2003, the GOI has made watershed management a national policy. A lot of thought is given to all of the significant crops that have disappeared from farming systems in the watershed development programs (WDPs) of India's current development plans, which are primarily focused on increasing and sustaining productivity levels. In the Sarguja division of Chhattisgarh, the present study attempted to document the on-site and off-site effects of these watershed development programs, as it observed an increase in the ground water level, a rise in the surface water and stream flow levels, a reduction in runoff as well as in soil erosion, increased agricultural and dairy production, improved livelihood and employment generation, and changes in the land use and farming patterns. These findings showed that the percentage of cropland increased in both Kharif and Rabi, because they started planting crops in Zaid, particularly cucumber, melon, and vegetables, that had been kept fallow. The patterns of land usage in the WDP regions have improved over time; due to farmers utilizing more wasteland for productive reasons, there has been a rise in the net sown area of these locations. Additionally, it has been claimed that many crops that were previously abandoned due to water shortages and other requirements are now being cultivated. Responses from the region's population have been in favor of the introduction of innovative techniques like Agroforestry systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aridity is a climatic phenomenon characterized by shortage of water availability in a given time and space resulting in low moisture and reduced carrying capacity of ecosystems. It is represented by a numerical indicator known as Aridity Index (AI), a function of rainfall and temperature. Aridification is a slow and steady effect of climate change and assessing its spread and change is vital in context of global climatic variations. Aridity is predominantly significant for agrarian countries like India, where a slight rise in drylands area can have a significant impact on the economy and community sustenance. AI is an inclusive indicator of climatic conditions in most arid and semi-arid regions. It helps in identifying and interpreting large scale trend in temperature and precipitation; and thus, classifying region into different climatic classes. The present study assessed long-term AI based on precipitation and temperature data obtained from the India Meteorological Department at the resolution of 1 × 1 degree for years 1969–2017. AI is estimated as a ratio of mean precipitation to mean potential evapotranspiration, calculated using Thornthwaite method. The results highlight the trend of aridity over pan-India with Innovative Trend Analysis and Mann–Kendall test. The study concludes that there is a relatively slow, however steadily progressive drier conditions being established in most of the regions. A shift from 'Semi-arid' towards 'Arid' class appeared in central mainland. The north-eastern Himalaya showed decrease in humid conditions ('Humid' to 'Sub-humid'). The study implies that there is a rising aridity trend over the years due to changing climatic conditions. The shifts in aridity can have serious implications on agriculture, long-term water resource utilization and land use management plans. Our results have scope for future landscape management studies in drylands and better adaptation methods in arid regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been quite a debate to understand the scope and opportunities related to the fringe areas of urban cores and their associated areas. Indeed, planners envision fringe areas as 'great alternatives' to ease out housing pressure in cities. As many of the fast growing Asian cities, Bengaluru shows quite a rapid and haphazard development in terms of urban processes. The city has expanded rather comfortably since 1990s in a concentric pattern, but presently it is facing immense challenges in terms of land availability. City planners have struggled to find solutions, while taking measures for the decentralization of city functions in the case of fringe areas. This research highlights the physical set up and the existing land use components to understand the extension and development possibilities of the fringe region of Channapatna lying adjacent to the Bengaluru city. The study area is Channapatna, which is famous for its handmade wooden toy and doll making industries. The region is a fringe area that promises to be a great setting for residential and industrial activities. Nonetheless, the paper focuses on the current villages in the region, which are generally agriculture-oriented and thus the preservation of the land use and related conservation measures are needed in a single planning platform. The study describes the demographic parameters and discusses the current land use and future planning measures. Therefore, the focus is not on Bengaluru as the Indian software capital, but on Channapatna in Bengaluru fringe area, which has tremendously benefited from the city development efforts. As such, this development includes economic growth and sustainable planning measures that would promote the co-existence of the rural and urban land uses, safeguarding the interests of the local artisans and farmers while paving the way for urbanization. This paper highlights the demographic aspects of the villages considered for a comprehensive and cluster level planning of Channapatna with changing land uses showing its prospects in toy making industries and its nearness to the main city as a promising future of sustainable urban planning and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical research concerning ecotourism has revealed the activity's socio-economic impacts, including low-wage employment-based dependencies for many rural communities. While these dynamics are important, a crucial aspect of the ecotourism industry that falls outside this conventional sort of dependency is land use dynamics, specifically land use change, sales and entrepreneurship. We examine these dynamics in Corbett Tiger Reserve, India, where promotion of (eco)tourism since the 1990s has influenced significant changes in local land use. These changes were initially facilitated by outsiders buying land and setting up hotels and resorts in villages adjoining the Reserve. Empirical research reveals that while this initial boom of outsiders buying land has waned, land owning villagers are now setting up tourism enterprises on their own land, thereby diversifying land use from agriculture to tourism. Critical agrarian research has shown that material and symbolic factors influence farmers' decision-making regarding land use change. An agrarian studies perspective thus facilitates a nuanced understanding of tourism-related land use diversification and change. By bringing agrarian and ecotourism studies approaches together here, we contribute to both by emphasising the importance of (eco)tourism in agrarian change and of attention to land use change in ecotourism studies to understand how rural people negotiate and navigate (eco)tourism in relation to land use. We also contribute to tourism geographies more broadly by highlighting how land use decision-making shapes local spaces in the course of ecotourism development. We draw attention to the broader processes of and impacts of ecotourism that shift generational rural land use influenced by changing values of land outside a protected area. Rendering land touristifiable deepens villagers' dependence on the market and alienates them from their land. Ecotourism commodifies nature, and we show that this commodification extends to rural land outside of ecotourism zones per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the impacts of changes in land use/ land cover (LULC) and climate on surface runoff are investigated in the Kadalundi river basin, Western Ghats, India. Land Change Modeller (LCM) was applied to project the future LULC scenarios in 2030 and 2050. Climate change scenarios of the future time period of near (2011−2040), mid (2041−2070), and far (2071−2099) were procured for Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 emission scenarios from five different general circulation models of coordinated regional downscaled experiment project. The 1988 and 2000 LULC were used for projection of 2014 LULC and validated with actual 2014 LULC. Further, 2000 and 2014 LULC were used for projection of 2030 LULC, and 2014 and 2030 LULC were used to project 2050 LULC. Changes in LULC from 2000 to 2050 are calculated using the transition matrix approach. The impacts of changes in LULC and climate on surface runoff are investigated by the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. The results showed a decrease in forest and grassland and an increase in agriculture, and urban areas from 2000 to 2050, with an increase in the mean annual surface runoff. For climate change scenarios assessed, mean annual surface runoff in the near, mid, and far would be decreasing under both RCP 4.5 and 8.5 while RCP 8.5 showing more worse condition than RCP 4.5 in the future. The combined effects of changes in LULC and climate showed a decreasing trend in the surface runoff for the near and mid future. Furthermore, the projected results indicate that the surface runoff would be higher in both RCP scenarios during winter and summer; while the monsoon period largely demonstrates a reverse trend. The analysis of combined impacts reveals that the decreasing of surface runoff under RCP 4.5 and 8.5 would be higher in near compared to mid future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimation of soil organic carbon (SOC) stock and its pools is important for understanding C budgeting and ecosystems services of any land use. The present study was conducted to quantify SOC stock and its pools of different oxidizability (very labile, labile, less labile and non-labile C), microbial biomass C and mineralizable C at different depths (0–0.15, 0.15–0.30 and 0.30–0.50 m) of selected 26 rice growing Inceptisols located in the subtropical Manipur valley, India. Results of this study showed that organic C stock in 0–0.50 m depth of the rice growing Inceptisols varied from 55.7 to 133.5 Mg ha−1 and there was a decrease in SOC stock along depth. The rice growing Inceptisols under subtropical climate of northeast India are characterized by cooler climatic conditions and soil acidity, which are favorable for SOC accumulation. The study also showed that more than two-third (72.0%) of SOC is present in active pools with rapid turnover. Therefore, much of the SOC in these soils is very susceptible to changes in management practices such as increased tillage intensity, inappropriate cropping without legume and inadequate fertilization and in weather conditions such as increased temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India ranks second after China in vegetable production in the world. Vegetable transplantation is labor-intensive due to the requirement of transplanting practices. This makes it necessary to adapt the mechanization for vegetable transplantation to save money and time and increase the productivity to fulfill the food requirement of a huge population. In India, vegetables are grown in small plots. The research paper on the design development and performance evaluation of the various manual vegetable transplanters, semi-automatic vegetable transplanters, automatic vegetable transplanters are studied for the purpose to find out the most useful vegetable transplanter in Indian conditions. As per the land use pattern in India, the small and economical vegetable transplanters are beneficial. The articles in this section discuss vegetable transplanters and advances in vegetable transplanting technology used in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diurnal temperature range (DTR) which reflects the difference between the daily maximum (Tmax) and minimum temperature (Tmin) is an important indication of changing climate and a critical thermal metric to assess the impact on agriculture, biodiversity, water resources, and human health. The major aim of this study is to assess the probable future spatio-temporal changes in the Tmax, Tmin, and DTR and their long-term warming trend from 2006 to 2099 under two representative concentration pathways (hereafter RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) over diverse agroclimatic regions of India. The observed data from India Meteorological Department (IMD) was used to evaluate the performance of climate models (1970–2005). The result shows a very slight underestimation in DTR by models compared to the observed. In future projections, we found a reduction in DTR (0.001 to 0.020 °C/year) partly linked to the substantial increase in Tmin (0.020 to 0.071 °C/year) than Tmax (0.031 to 0.060 °C/year) that was stronger in far twenty-first-century future under RCP8.5. The decline in DTR was profound and consistent over northern India (up to 3 °C) surrounding the Indo-Gangetic Plain, western dry region, and part of central India with the highest decline observed in winter and pre-monsoon season. However, a decline in DTR was also anticipated over the plateau, coastal, and eastern Himalayas region. Change in land use land cover (LULC) also complimented the decline in DTR. The main findings of the study advocate implementation of a robust framework for climate change adaptation strategies to mitigate adverse consequences to the natural ecosystem and human health over specific regions arising due to declining DTR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The alteration of land use and land cover caused by human activities on a global scale has had a notable impact on ecosystem services at regional and global levels, which are crucial for the survival and welfare of human beings. Merbil, a small freshwater wetland located in the Brahmaputra basin in Assam, India, is not exempt from this phenomenon. In the present study, we have estimated and shown a spatio-temporal variation of ecosystem service values in response to land use and land cover alteration for the years 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2021, and predicted the same for 2030 and 2040. Supervised classification and the CA-Markov model were used in this study for land-use and land-cover classification and future projection, respectively. The result showed a significant increase in built-up areas, agricultural land, and aquatic plants and a decrease in open water and vegetation during 1990–2040. The study area experienced a substantial rise in ecosystem service values during the observed period (1990–2021) due to the rapid expansion of built-up areas and agricultural and aquatic land. Although the rise of built-up and agricultural land is economically profitable and has increased the study site's overall ecosystem service values, decreasing the area under open water and vegetation cover may have led to an ecological imbalance in the study site. Hence, we suggest that protecting the natural ecosystem should be a priority in future land-use planning. The study will aid in developing natural resource sustainability management plans and provide useful guidelines for preserving the local ecological balance in small wetlands over the short to medium term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most valuable approaches in spatial analysis for a better understanding of the hydrological response of a region or a watershed is certainly the analysis of the well-known land use land cover (LULC) dynamicity. The present case study delves deeper into the analysis of LULC dynamicity by using digital Landsat TM and Landsat OLI data to classify the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) into seven classes with over 90% classification accuracy for decadal level assessments of 30 years (for the years 1989, 1999, 2009, and 2019). The change index, the Dematel method for analyzing the cause-effect relationship among the LULC classes, the Jaccard Similarity Index for measuring the nature of similarity among the LULC classes, and the Adherence Index for measuring the consistency of the LULC classes after the transition was used in this study to analyze the LULC transformation. In more detail, the present study considers how urban land use is altering at the expense of other land uses. Besides the shifting pattern of mean centers of the LULC classes through time, also gives a very significant insight into the LULC dynamics over 30 years of span. The current study of LULC dynamicity and transformation patterns over the 30 years of the KMDA area is expected to assist land and urban planners, engineers, and administrators in sustainable decisions and policies to ensure inclusive urbanization that accommodates population growth while minimizing the impact on potential natural resources within the whole study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban expansion and land surface temperature (LST) fluctuations have been negatively influenced by rapid urbanisation, which degrades the urban thermal environment. This study has endeavoured to incorporate future urban growth modelling and assess the impact of urbanization on LST over Indore City, India, using temporal Landsat satellite data for the years 2010, 2015 and 2020. The present study has utilized the Cellular Automata (CA) model to project future urban growth for the year 2025. The result shows that the built-up land has increased by 28.7% during 2010–2015 and 24.9% during 2015–2020, while a future projection of 4.7% is evident in 2025. The mean LST over the city signifies a decreasing trend during the winter and summer seasons from 2010 to 2020. Moreover, an occurrence of higher LST in the surrounding rural area is observed, witnessing cool heat island phenomenon. The urban thermal field variation index (UTFVI) map shows non-UTFVI in the urban area, which shows an increasing trend and strongest UTFVI in rural regions with decreasing trend in summer season during 2010–2020. Whereas in the winter season, the observed result suggests the opposite behaviour of UTFVI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation of a site suitability for sustainable urban settlement growth is crucial. A system for evaluating an interaction between the factors must be established to assure that critical site selection interrelationships are not neglected. To solve this problem, the proposed methodology was evaluated to identify a suitable site for sustainable residential development in Nashik, India. The Geographic information system (GIS)-based multi-influence factor (MIF) approach is used in this study to find ideal locations for future urban settlement. The assessment was based on 11 factors including vegetation, elevation, land use, industry, drainage network, slope, water bodies, road, health services, railway station and population density. The sustainable site suitability was delineated by aggregating all considered factors and their associated MIF weights using the interrelationship between the factors. The results showed that 27.26% of research area was not ideal for settlement development, 16.82% was low suitable, 30.65% was moderately suitable, 16.48% was highly suitable and 8.77% was very highly suitable. Most of the suitable sites were located near the existing habitant area, and major roads. The suitability sites were validated using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC), and area under curve (AUC) value of 0.895 indicated that the model was effective. Sensitivity analysis revealed that the distance from road, drainage network, and health services are the dominant for selecting the optimal location of settlement development in research area. The findings of the delineated ideal areas for the intensive urban settlement development will be helpful to planners and policy makers for sustainable urban growth in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the morphology and land use/land cover of palaeochannels along the Chambal River and it explores the prospects of their revival. A total of 104 palaeochannels were identified covering a distance of 465 km. Further, the study has identified that palaeochannels have a natural valley structure that facilitates limited and seasonal water inundation at irregular places, forming pond-like structures. The ponds are a direct consequence of blockages of natural drainage, mainly, by human construction activities. It has been found that the palaeochannels, despite having a valley structure, have private ownership and have been under cultivation. Further, this paper explores revival prospects of the palaeochannels and ponds, including their inclusion in the Amrit Sarovar Scheme (a Government Scheme). These results are significant in understanding of the geomorphological evolution of the Chambal River and in the possibility of using the areas (palaeochannels and ponds) in a more meaningful way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study is to analyze the past and future land use and land cover change (LULCC) in Betwa River Basin (BRB), central India. The LULC maps were derived from Landsat satellite images using Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC). The artificial neural network (ANN) embedded with Land Change Modeler (LCM) was trained with driver variables. The model prediction accuracy has been accessed by evaluating Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) values. The study reveals that during the period 1990-2020 agriculture land, open forest, and built-up land area have increased significantly. Further, the LULCC prediction for the period 2030-2050 suggests that expansion in open forest and the built-up land area will continue while agriculture land area will keep back in the future. This research provides up-to-date LULCC information of BRB, which would be useful for all the stakeholders governing river basin management and land resource planning in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The land is a vital source of agriculture. Agricultural land is utilized for the purpose of cropping. Delineation of potential agricultural land is pertinent when population pressure incrementally increases and a competitive trade-off between different land uses. The present study is conducted to evaluate the agrarian land suitability in the Ranchi district (Plateau region in India) using fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP). A land suitability evaluation technique is designed, combining nineteen thematic layers from five categories: climatic parameters, topographic features, soil characteristics, euclidean distance, and land elements. All thematic layers were combined into a single layer using the FAHP model to create agricultural land suitability map in a GIS environment. Our analysis demonstrates that 11.17% of the total area (509700 ha) is highly suitable, while about 20.73% and 13.81% of the study area is moderately suitable and marginally suitable for agricultural activities. The study also reveals that approximately 54.29% of the lands are not suitable for agriculture. Our findings provide additional information, and local governments can use the land suitability map to manage and develop agricultural resources. The study contributes to the studies on agricultural suitability by bringing in multiple variables centring on the FAHP method, which can be replicated in studies on plateau regions across the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floods are frequently occurring events in the Assam region due to the presence of the Brahmaputra River and the heavy monsoon period. An efficient and reliable methodology is utilized to prepare a GIS-based flood risk map for the Assam region, India. At the regional and administrative level, the flood hazard index (FHI), flood vulnerability index (FVI), and flood risk index (FRI) are developed using multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) – analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The selected indicators define the topographical, geological, meteorological, drainage characteristics, land use land cover, and demographical features of Assam. The results show that more than 70%, 57.37%, and 50% of the total area lie in moderate to very high FHI, FVI, and FRI classes, respectively. The proposed methodology can be applied to identify high flood risk zones and to carry out effective flood risk management and mitigation strategies in vulnerable areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was conducted during 2016–2017 to evaluate phosphate fixation and release behavior in Alfisols of West Bengal, India under 5 prevailing land use systems viz., Fallowland, Forestland, Upland, Mediumland and Lowland, of the locality. Ten levels of Phosphorus (P) (through KH2PO4) were applied to the duly processed soil samples and incubated at room temperature (30 °C) for 96 hours after which the available soil P was estimated by Olsen's method. The P fixing capacity of the soils was then calculated. The effect of application of 2 levels of silicon (calcium silicate) (0 and 50 kg ha−1) and 2 levels of organic manure (FYM) (0 and 7.5 t ha−1) on P dynamics of these soils over a period of 120 days was also studied in a pot culture incubation experiment in Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (BCKV), Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal. While the highest P fixation (75.01%) was observed under Forest land, the lowest was observed under Medium land (54.49%). The observed results indicated that P content of soil, irrespective of land use, increased by a whopping 125.89% up to 30 days of incubation and then started declining. Application of silicon and FYM resulted in significant increase (P < 0.05) in the available P content of the soil and silicon and organic manure had a synergistic effect increasing the available P throughout the incubation period. We conclude and recommend application of silicon and organic manure for increasing availability of P in these traditionally high P fixing Alfisols of West Bengal, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted to assess the soil properties, land use and livelihood options of salt-affected areas in YSR Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh, India during 2020. One hundred and fifty-eight soil samples in salt-affected mandals were collected at two depths, viz. 0--30 cm and 30--60 cm at 79 locations. They were analysed for different physical and chemical properties. Sandy loam texture was predominant in 56.96% of samples and 35.44% of subsurface samples. This was followed by sandy clay loam in 18.98% surface and 34.20% subsurface samples. pH2 of soil varied from 7.5 to 10.6 and 7.3 to 10.6 for the surface and subsurface soils respectively. ECe was in the range 0.4 --46.0 dS m--1 in surface soils and 0.4--33.0 dS m--1 in the subsurface soils. Residual sodium carbonate of the surface soils was in the range --63.8 to 47.8 meq/l and it was --51.6 to 68.6 meq/l for subsurface samples. Sodium adsorption ratio ranged from 0.78 to 70.0 on the surface and from 0.52 to 65.3 in subsurface soils. Exchangeable sodium percentage range from 0.9 to 80.5 and 0.6 to 75.1 in the surface and subsurface soil samples respectively. Cation exchange capacity 3.17 to 43.26 cmol (p+) kg--1 characterized surface soils, while values 5.94 to 63.51 cmol (p+) kg--1 characterized subsurface soils. The problem soils, namely saline, saline-alkali and alkali soils, were present under various land-use categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding synergies and trade‐offs between forests, water, and climate change is warranted for designing effective policies and strategies for managing water and forests, which are essential for sustenance, ecological proliferation, and economic development. Forests are considered global storehouse of resources, functioning as ecosystem service providers, such as recyclers of terrestrial water to maintain quality and quantity of water but are constantly regulated by climatic parameters. These interlinkages are further complicated by the highly debated role of forests in water regulation and consumption, anthropogenic changes in land use, changing climatic patterns and their subsequent impacts on the hydrological cycle. However, policy and planning for natural resource management seldom consider the interrelationships between forest, water, and climate change due to lack of consensus, misrepresentations and difficult conversions of the complicated interactions to policy. We review and discuss the existing research on these interrelationships with different approaches using a range of hydrological, climatic, and land use indicators. We further suggest incorporating long‐term data for forest, water, and climate into conceptual, statistical, and stochastic models may yield better projections with fewer uncertainties rather than those focusing on linear interactions between paired components. Thus, there is a need for exploring these interactions holistically rather than in silos from the perspective of natural resource management particularly in developing nations such as India that have a pressing need to develop new and synergize existing strategies for sustainable management of forest and water under changing climatic variables. This article is categorized under:Science of Water > Hydrological ProcessesScience of Water > Water and Environmental ChangeWater and Life > Conservation, Management, and Awareness [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use and land cover change (LULCC) is among the most apparent natural landscape processes impacted by anthropogenic activities, particularly in fast-growing regions. In India, at present, due to the impacts of anthropogenic climate change, supplemented by the fast pace of developmental activities, the areas providing the highest agricultural yields are facing the threat of either extinction or change in land use. This study assesses the LULCC in the fastest-changing landscape region of the Indian state of Bihar, District Muzaffarpur. This district is known for its litchi cultivation, which, over the last few years, has been observed to be increasing in acreage at the behest of a decrease in natural vegetation. In this study, we aim to assess the past, present and future changes in LULC of the Muzaffarpur district using support vector classification and CA-ANN (cellular automata-artificial neural network) algorithms. For assessing the present and past LULC of the study area, we used Landsat Satellite data for 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020. It was observed that between 1990 and 2020, the area under vegetation, wetlands, water body, and fallow land decreased by 44.28%, 34.82%, 25.56%, and 5.63%, respectively. At the same time, the area under built-up, litchi plantation, and cropland increased by 1451.30%, 181.91%, and 5.66%, respectively. Extensive ground truthing was carried out to assess the accuracy of the LULC for 2020, whereas historical google earth images were used for 1990, 2000, and 2010, through the use of overall accuracy and kappa coefficient indices. The kappa coefficients for the final LULC for the years 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020 were 0.79, 0.75, 0.87, and 0.85, respectively. For forecasting the future LULC, first, the LULC of 1990 and 2010 were used to predict the landscape for 2020 using the CA-ANN model. After calibrating and validating the CA-ANN outputs, LULC for 2030 and 2050 were generated. The generated future LULC scenarios were validated using kappa index statistics by comparing the forecast outcomes with the original LULC data for 2020. It was observed that in both 2030 and 2050, built-up and vegetation would be the major transitioning LULC. In 2030 and 2050, built-up will increase by 13.15% and 108.69%, respectively, compared to its area in 2020; whereas vegetation is expected to decrease by 14.30% in 2030 and 32.84% in 2050 compared to its area in 2020. Overall, this study depicted a decline in the natural landscape and a sudden increase in the built-up and cash-crop area. If such trends continue, the future scenario of LULC will also demonstrate the same pattern. This study will help formulate better land use management policy in the study area, and the overall state of Bihar, which is considered to be the poorest state of India and the most vulnerable to natural calamities. It also demonstrates the ability of the CA-ANN model to forecast future events and comprehend spatiotemporal LULC dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Holocene arid events and related societal responses are important scientific inquiries due to concerns about their reoccurrences in the future. In the Indian subcontinent, significant number of studies have focussed on understanding the Holocene aridification events at 8.2 and 4.2 ka. Despite these studies, high resolution palaeoclimatic records from the eastern India during Holocene, particularly around the above-mentioned aridification events are lacking. In this study, we present high resolution Holocene palaeoclimate records reconstructed based on geochemical and isotopic data from the Chilika Lagoon located in the east coast of India. A 130 cm long sediment core, retrieved from the southern end of the lagoon, revealed a continuous sedimentation history between 8.49 and 0.99 ka. The variations in organic carbon isotopic compositions, total organic carbon contents, along with major and trace element abundances suggested a strong effect of 8.2 dry event and a shift in chemical weathering at around 4.2 ka in the eastern coast of India. Additionally, a strong warm climate anomaly was observed at 1.2 ka. Interestingly, higher sedimentation rates were observed post 4.2 ka, which potentially indicated a significant change in settlement dynamics and human interventions. It appears that the eastern coast of India experienced human migration and surge in agricultural practices similar to that in northwest India after the 4.2 ka climatic event. It is likely that people relocated themselves, which eventually increased the pastoral activities in newly occupied lands. Consequently, enhanced land use and land cover changes accelerated soil erosion in the region leading to higher sedimentation rate in the lagoon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Phosphorus (P) is among the essential elements for plant growth and one of the main elements of fertilizers. Decreased availability of P may limit agricultural production in the coming years. The magnitude of soil aggregation influences phosphorus access to mineral surfaces. Aim: The present study aims to determine phosphorus adsorption processes affected by soil aggregation under different land‐use systems. Methods: The distribution of soil aggregates was determined in representative soil samples in the district Kupwara of Kashmir Valley in India. To predict the phosphorus fertilizer requirement of a particular soil, we used the Freundlich adsorption equation and Langmuir equation and drew a clear comparison between these two models. Results and discussion: Maximum phosphorus (P) adsorption was recorded at the smallest aggregate size, 0.5–0.1 mm. However, soil aggregates >2.0 mm (the largest category) adsorbed the least amount of P. Our results revealed that increasing the addition of P to the soil decreased the percentage of adsorbed P regardless of aggregate size. The maximum P adsorption of different size aggregates varied between 1869–1924, 1872–1900, 1718–1739, and 1800–1890 mg P kg–1 in irrigated agriculture, forest, orchard and rainfed agriculture soils, respectively. The variation in P adsorption parameters across the different land uses was attributed to their mean weight diameter difference. The maximum bonding energy in the forest resulted in higher P adsorption. Langmuir and Freundlich's adsorption equations were fitted to each soil aggregate size and land‐use system. Conclusion: Our results revealed that for all soil aggregate sizes and land use systems, the Freundlich adsorption equation performs better than the Langmuir equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The arid region of Rajasthan has been classified into unique agro-ecological sub-regions, zones, and sub-zones (indicated by their code number in this abstract) for which sustainable land use has been suggested based on the potentials and constraints. 2.1, 2.2 and 3.1 sub-zones need dune stabilization, silvopastural farming, and kharif cultivation in interdunes; khadin water harvesting system, as well as solar farming. 4.1 and 4.2 sub-zones need rainfed cropping under conserved moisture, agroforestry and limited irrigation, cultivation of low water requiring crops, such as mustard, cumin in rabi. In 4.3 sub-zone under conserved moisture and winter rainfall pulses and mustard are suggested. In 5.1 and 5.2 sub-zones kharif season crops and wheat, mustard, cumin, and condiments irrigated with brackish groundwater by adopting gypsum treatment are suggested. In the canal command area, the micro-irrigation system is doing well in the sandy plain and dune complex area, but in the Ned area irrigation needs to be restricted/avoided. In 5.3 and 5.4 sub-zones, rainfed irrigated crops and fruit cultivation is suggested. In 6.1 sub-zone dune stabilization is suggested; 6.2 and 6.3 sub-zones require erosion control and irrigation water management for the cultivation of cotton, paddy, groundnut, sugarcane, and kinnow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian soils are inherently poor in quality due to the warm climate and erosion. Conversion of land uses like forests to croplands and faulty management practices in croplands further cause soil degradation. This study aimed to understand the extent of these impacts in a small representative part of eastern India, covering Himalayan terai and nearing alluvial plains. Soils were collected from (i) forests, (ii) croplands (under agricultural practices for more than 50–60 years) and (iii) converted lands (converted from forests to croplands or tea gardens over the past 15–20 years). Different soil quality indicators were assessed and soil quality index (SQI) was generated to integrate, scale and allot a single value per soil. Results indicated that continuous organic matter deposition and no disturbances consequence the highest presence of soil carbon pools, greater aggregation and maximum microbial dynamics in forest soils whereas high application of straight fertilizers caused the highest available nitrogen and phosphorus in cropland soils. The SQI scorebook indicated the best soil quality under forests (x¯ 0.532), followed by soils of converted land (x¯ 0.432) and cropland (x¯ 0.301). Comparison of the SQI spatial distribution with land use and land cover confirmed the outcome. Possibly practices like excessive tillage, high cropping intensity, no legume in crop rotations, cultivation of heavy feeder crops caused degraded soil quality in croplands. This study presented an example of soil quality degradation in India due to land use change and faulty management practices. Such soil degradation on a larger scale may affect future food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land uses are pivotal in global carbon cycles. The native forest lands possess a greater potential to sequester higher carbon, which can directly address soil quality and climate change problems. Unfortunately, the rapid conversion of forests to other land use over the past few decades has significantly declined the concentration of carbon in the soils. Therefore, in order to estimate the impact of land-use change (LUC) on soil carbon status, this present study was attempted under major ecosystems (Forest (FOR), cropland (CRP), tea plantation (TEA)) of Conoor. Results from findings revealed that total organic carbon (TOC) concentration and carbon pools were significantly (p<0.05) higher in FOR than in CRP and TEA. TOC (0-45 cm) recorded in FOR, CRP and TEA was 32.88, 11.87 and 18.84 g kg-1 and it decreased along the depth increment. Carbon stock (t ha-1) in FOR, CRP and TEA (0-45cm) was 68.10, 26.04, 42.42. Microbial biomass carbon (MBC) was higher in FOR (283.08 mg kg-1) followed by TEA (94.64 mg kg-1) and CRP (76.22 mg kg-1). The microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) followed; FOR > TEA > CRP. These results clearly indicate that the LUC has inflicted a greater impact on soil carbon status and its extent was quantified using the land degradation index (LDI). The LDI (0-45 cm) recorded in CRP (-38.65) and TEA (-61.75) signals the need for immediate implementation of carbon management strategies in the CRP and TEA ecosystem to keep the soils of Conoor alive and prevent land degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewables are imagined in India around features of 'greenness' and 'cleanness' and are presented as the modern pathway towards sustainable development and unlimited growth. But this shining story entails problematic land politics and the related (un)making of space for capital accumulation: previous property regimes and land uses are erased while a new set of land technologies and territorial rules legitimates land dispossession and the private takeover of commons. Wind infrastructures are specifically targeting (common) lands categorized as 'deserted', 'empty' and 'waste', and subaltern groups (tribal, pastoral and Dalit communities) whose livelihood practices have been historically described as 'unproductive' and 'backward'. These both violent and discursive logics of (neo)colonial and green energy land politics are mediated and fixed to the ground levels by powerful (land) brokers, contractors, wind companies' land teams and political mediators who embark land on its tortuous, bureaucratic and yet material journey towards clearing, cleaning and holding value. This article offers perspectives from political geography and critical agrarian studies to understand the territorial process, the persistence of class-caste relations and the legacy of coloniality underlying the land politics of green energy development in borderland India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of groundwater potential zone has become a prime concern for the developing countries, where the dependency of groundwater is more, because of the increasing demand for water for irrigational uses. Furthermore, the rapid population growth is hindering the aquifer recharge process by altering the land use land cover (LULC) of any region. The present work aims to assess how the modification of land use land cover can affect the groundwater recharge potential zones over a river basin area in West Bengal, India. Enumerating 13 influential parameters and employing the fuzzy analytical hierarchical process (FAHP), delineation of groundwater potential zones have been done for 2000 and 2018. The outputs produced by such a predictive decision-making model have been validated by water level data acquired from the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and field survey for respective years. The effect of LULC over groundwater potentiality has been investigated through a change analysis of land use land cover and recharge potential areas from the year 2000 to 2018. This study witnessed an augmented groundwater resource scenario due to maximum positive changes in land utilization patterns by the community, which ensures the effectiveness of anthropogenic control on any kind of resource management system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In northeast India, Barak river is among one of the principal rivers, which is highly meandering in nature in its flood plain area. For infrastructural development and river protection works, it is essential to know the behavior of banklines shifting on landuse and landcover changes. This study is to evaluate the impact of bank lines shifting on land use and land cover changes. In order to fulfill the purpose of the present study 12 reaches with 41 cross-sections have been selected. The whole work has been done with the help of RS and GIS techniques using Landsat images and hybrid classification for the landuse and landcover classification. The result of the study shows that in the upper reach of the alluvial plain, there is an active shifting. Also, it is observed that at the lower reach, the river has moved in both north and south direction. It is observed that maximum migration rate is 130.2 m/year with a mean migration rate (9.43 m/year). The sinuosity estimated for the same reach with 12 bends is in the range 1.24–3.89. Among all the sections, the minimum and maximum changes of width are 0.26m and 249.93m respectively with an average value of 84.51m. It is found that the Barak river can be classified into sinuous channel (1.05 to 1.5), as well as meandering channel (>1.5). The investigation of changes in the pattern of land use land cover (LULC) of the Barak basin over 33 year's period (1984–2017) shows that urban/built-up and agricultural land was increased gradually, e.g., urban increased by 40.6% for 1984–1992, 72.14% for 2002–2012, 180.15% for 1984–2017. While, agricultural land increased by 18.9% for 1984–1992, 41.15% for 1992–2002 and 93.20% for 1984–2017. In addition water bodies increased by 19% and 41.73% from 1984–1992 and 1984–2017 respectively. In contrast, dense vegetation decreased by 5.6% for 1984–1992 and 21.77% for 2002–2012 and 39.14% for 1984–2017. Open vegetation showed a decreasing trend by 11.1% for 1984–1992, 26.83% for 1992–2002, and 36.27% for 1984–2017. Rapid population growth, migration of rural people to urban, unawareness of biophysical limitations and poverty are some of the probable reasons behind the changes in the LULC. The results of the hybrid classification of the LULC of the Barak River for the Landsat 1(1984; MSS), Landsat 2 (1992; TM), Landsat 5 (2002; TM), Landsat 7(2012; ETM+) and Landsat 8(2017; OLI) showed overall classification accuracy of 90.83%, 86.67%, 90.56%, 93.33% and 86.11% with overall kappa statistics of 0.8900, 0.8400, 0.8867, 0.9200 and 0.8333 respectively. The channel migration directly affects the land use and land use change and has direct effect on the flood plain dwellers of the study area. All the assessments of this study highlight a significant message of immense vulnerability of the Barak river and also provide news about geomorpho-logical instabilities of the study area [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Soils at 57 ancient Hindu temples in India are documented from field profiles as a basis for understanding livelihoods of the five cults of Puranic (Smarta) Hinduism during the first millennium CE. Similar soils were found at different temples of the same deity, but different kinds of soils at temples of different deities. Temples of Ganesha and Hanuman, for example, are alluvial Entisols and Vertisols, the principal cultivable soils of India. Temples of Vishnu and Lakshmi are well drained Alfisols and Aridisols suitable for grazing, housing and markets. Different soils supported different livelihoods, social classes and cults, such as servant (shudra) class for farmers Ganesha and Hanuman, and herder-merchant (vaishya) class for Vishnu and Lakshmi. This result matches accounts in the Matsya Purana (250–500 CE) specifying dark organic soils for shudras and red soil for vaishyas. Puranic Smarta polytheism may reflect amalgamation of different tribal traditions during expansion of Gupta and other Hindu empires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Soil properties and enzymatic activities varied across land use types and villages. • Agroforestry establishment accelerated soil enzymatic activities by 39.41–90.17%. • Cultivation caused massive decline in level and variability of enzymatic activities. • Climate, vegetation, and management practices determined the enzymatic activities. Soil microbial enzymatic activities, often used as indicators of soil health and fertility, are vulnerable to changes in climate and anthropogenic activities. This study analyses the responses of specific soil enzymatic activities– dehydrogenase (DHA), acid phosphatase (APH), β-glucosidase (BG) and urease (URE)– in Nitosols/Luvisols of the subtropical zone of the Central Himalaya, India. We investigated how these enzymatic activities vary with different land uses: arable land (AL), kitchen garden (KG) and peach orchard (PO), across four villages– Niglat, Kainchidham, Majhera and Syalikhet. Considering associated management practices, we quantified cumulative average soil enzymatic activities for the rabi season (2017–2018). In general, catalytic activity of the selected enzymes was highest in Syalikhet and lowest in Majhera. However, for land use types, enzymatic activities were lower in AL and KG (75.56–90.17% and 39.41–61.72%, respectively) compared to PO values. MANOVA analysis evaluated significant spatial differences (P < 0.001) in enzymatic activities. Soil enzymatic mean values were highest in the surface layer (0–10 cm) and decreased gradually with increasing depth. Parameters such as soil moisture content (SMC) and pH, along with vegetation, management practices, and nutrients such as SOC, TN, K, AP, and N forms (NH 4 +–N and NO 3 ––N) showed significant and strong correlations with all the soil enzyme activities (r = 0.40–0.97; P < 0.05). TN, SOC, K, SMC, pH, AP, NH 4 +- N, and clay content were key determining factors of soil enzymatic activities, explaining approximately 59% of the variation. These results suggest that using soil microbial enzymatic activities as soil quality indicators is a feasible approach to assess the impacts of vegetation, management practices, and soil profile depths in soils under different land use types/systems in selected impoverished villages of the fragile Central Himalaya, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to the livelihoods of rural households, especially in developing countries. The reverse migrated workers faced the most economic crisis. They have created additional pressure on local resources and opportunities to maintain their livelihood. In this connection the agriculture-livestock-forestry nexus plays a significant role by providing them livelihood opportunities. This paper attempts to understand the resource use patterns during the post-COVID period, and analyse the impact of agriculture-livestock-forest nexus on household income diversification and poverty reduction. The present study uses a novel approach to fulfil the objectives of the study. A well-designed survey was conducted to collect the necessary primary data from sixteen sample villages of West Bengal, India. The scientific design of the survey and data collection procedure is maintained. Moreover, geospatial techniques are used to examine the land use and land cover patterns of the study areas. The econometric models are estimated to inspect the role of agriculture-livestock-forest nexus and household characteristics on household level income diversification and the reduction of poverty. Our analysis reveals that a significant number of the sample households depend on agriculture, livestock and forestry to maintain their livelihoods. The reverse migration of workforce has created additional pressure on these activities. This is mainly due to non-availability of other non-farm employment opportunities locally. The analysis of econometric models shows that while engagement in different activities of the primary sector makes income diversified, it is more so when the households possess necessary technologies, skills and financial supports. All of these are crucial given that income diversification helps households to overcome of poverty. The intricate web of the agriculture-livestock-forestry nexus serves as a critical source of livelihood for a substantial number of households, yet the challenges and opportunities it presents necessitate targeted policy interventions. Enabling technology transfer, fostering skill development, and extending financial support emerge as key measures to diversify rural livelihoods, thereby fostering sustainable rural development and poverty reduction in the post-pandemic landscape. The integration of socioeconomic data and geospatial satellite information offers an invaluable basis for formulating effective policy strategies in this evolving era. [Display omitted] • Examines the agriculture-livestock-forest nexus and its impact on income diversification during the post-COVID period. • Analysing resource use and livelihoods with primary data, geospatial and econometric methods. • Technology transfer, skill development, and financial aid boost rural income diversification. • Socio-economic and satellite data integration aids in crafting impactful policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainwater Management (RWM) interventions were implemented to address the scarcity of water and to restrict the degradation of land resources in the Parasai-Sindh watershed covering an areal extent of 1246 ha located in Jhansi district of Bundelkhand region, Central India. The region is constrained by several factors, the most significant of which is its high vulnerability to natural disasters and poor infrastructure development, resulting in low agricultural production and precarious livelihoods. This study's goal was to evaluate the impact of RWM intervention on groundwater dynamics and the changes in LULC that it has brought about. A total of 380 dug wells were monitored to investigate the ground water dynamics. Integration of Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) were used to prepare LULC maps using Landsat images. The changes in LULC were studied before and after the implementation of RWM interventions. The study revealed enhanced groundwater availability for agricultural and domestic applications. Due to increased water availability, a significant portion of fallow land was converted into cropland. Built-up land coverings have also increased in the watershed. A decrease in the areal extent of barren rocky and scrubland was witnessed over the study period. The area under plantation was also increased.The study underlines the relevance of RWM interventions in restoring watershed land cover, assisting in poverty alleviation, and providing long-term livelihood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explores the pattern and extent of food-crop diversification and its implications on nutritional indicators in India using district-level data for the most recent period. It relied on data from land-use statistics and the National Family Health Survey 2015-16. We estimated the Simpson index for food-crop diversification and undernutrition index for nutritional status. The association of crop diversification and nutritional status was analysed employing bivariate copula function. The findings show striking regional differences in the extent of food-crop diversification and nutritional outcomes. The results of the copula function indicate a significant inverse relationship between crop diversification and undernutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil microbial and enzymatic activities are sensitive to environmental change. To assess variations in soil properties, six prominent rainfed land-use systems were undertaken in Shiwalik foothills of Punjab, India. In soil samples (0–0.15 m), pH, EC, SOC, available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, DTPA-Zn, DTPA-Fe, DTPA-Mn and DTPA-Cu varied from 7.3–7.9, 0.31–0.61 ds m−1, 0.20–0.63%, 110–381 kg ha−1, 29.8–32.6 kg ha−1, 99–196 kg ha−1, 9.5–15.1 mg kg−1, 9.0–25.2 mg kg−1, 0.31–1.02 mg kg−1 and 0.71–0.96 mg kg−1, respectively. In soil biochemical properties, dehydrogenase activity varied from 5.4–10.9 µg TPF g−1 h−1, acid and alkaline phosphatase from 17.0–36.5 µg pNP g−1 h−1 and 36.3–61.3 µg pNP g−1 h−1, urease from 4.05 to 4.80 µg NH4-N g−1 soil min−1, basal soil respiration from 0.13–0.27 µg CO2 g−1 soil h−1, MBC from 34.9 to 184.5 µg g−1 soil, total and easily extractable glomalin from 4.19 to 8.80 g kg−1 and 1.70 to 8.32 g kg−1, respectively. PCA identified SOC, EC, total extractable glomalin, DTPA-Zn and available potassium as most sensitive and reliable indicators for soil quality. Agri-horticulture and forestry system are considered as sustainable ecosystem in Shiwalik foothills of Punjab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, a new spectral index named as Normalized Ratio Urban Index (NRUIms) has been proposed for multi-sensor Landsat satellite data. The new index along with other existing indices, has been used as additional feature for image classification to assess Land Use Land Cover (LULC) changes for Dehradun, India. It has been found that use of indices, increases separability between different LULC class-pairs. However, for fallow-urban class pair, NRUIms shows better separability in comparison to other indices. Significant LULC changes have been analysed using Man Kendall (MK) and Sen's Slope (SS) tests. The change during the period 1991–2019 reveals that an unprecedented urban growth has taken place. Further, conversion of vegetated areas into non-vegetated areas has also been studied in this period. For changed areas, normalized LST difference has been estimated. The LULC conversion from vegetated into non-vegetated areas, leads to an increase in LST and vice-versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wardha valley coalfield of Central India is one of the major coalfields which fulfils the requirement of coal in Maharashtra and other adjoining states. Chandrapur district falls within the Wardha valley coalfield covering an area of 11,364 km2. The district has its economic and industrial importance due to availability of coal reserves, which contributes to core sector of India with both open and underground mining. An attempt has been made to assess the land use/cover changes in parts Wardha valley coalfield, Chandrapur district using multi-temporal satellite data. Survey of India toposheets (55P/8 and 56M/5) have been used for preparation of base map, whereas multi-temporal satellite data of LANDSAT 5 (TM), IRS 1D LISS III and IRS P6 LISS III corresponding to 1991, 2001 and 2011, respectively have been utilized for LU/LC mapping and change detection. Visual interpretation technique has been followed to delineate LU/LC categories supplemented with ground truth verification /field work. Satellite data interpretation led to the identification and delineation of 14 land use/cover categories, namely dense forest, degraded forest, open scrub, plantation, cultivated land, uncultivated land, waste land, mining area, overburden dumps, thermal power plant, industrial area, settlement/built-up, water body and dry river. Arc GIS has been used for digitization, editing, computation and generating vital statistics. The analysis of LU/LC statistics suggests that area has undergone significant land use/cover changes during two decades (1991–2011) due to increasing mining activity, industrialization and urbanization. There has been significant reduction in areas under dense forest (9.49 km2) and open scrub (10.83 km2). The other notable changes have been observed in uncultivated land which reduced by 1.54 km2 and waste land by 2.75 km2. On other hand, significant increase in area has been observed under plantation (5.08 km2), cultivated land (6.25 km2), mining area (2.16 km2), overburden dumps (3.37 km2) and settlement/built-up (5.22 km2). Area under degraded forest has increased by 2.32 km2, industrial area by 0.18 km2 and water body by 1.14 km2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban green spaces (UGS) can counter the ill effects of urbanization in high-density cities. Studies related to these aspects are rare in Indian cities, however. This article aims to assess the availability and accessibility of UGS in Raipur, India. The objectives are to identify the status of UGS alteration, determine the status of available UGS, and identify the optimum population density for which UGS can be made available and accessible. Land use change detection, fragmentation index, availability index, UGS per capita, and neighborhood accessibility are used to assess aspects of UGS. The results show an increase in built-up area (24.32 percent) from 2010 to 2020. They also show a decrease in the UGS availability index and an increase in the fragmentation index from the city center to the outskirts. Uneven distribution of UGS categories is found all over the studied urban area. Low-density areas have more UGS per capita available than high-density areas, whereas medium-high-density areas have the maximum UGS accessibility. The study concludes with density-wise implications to maximize the UGS benefits and identifies medium-high density as the optimum density that allows high accessibility to the available UGS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries have made ambitious pledges to increase forest areas to mitigate climate change. However, the availability of land to meet these goals is not well understood. Global studies indicate substantial potential, but do not account for local land‐use and regional variation, crucial for policy making. Using India as a case study, we use a machine learning framework to define the bioclimatic envelope of forest cover and map this against current land‐uses with varying suitability for restoration. We estimate the additional feasible area for restoration to be only 1.58 Mha, cumulatively sequestering 61.3 TgC, which is substantially less than estimates derived from global studies. However, we also find up to 14.67 Mha of opportunity for agroforestry in current agricultural land, delivering up to 98.1 TgC nationally. In the UN Decade of Restoration, we recommend developing forest restoration strategies that are compatible with existing land‐uses, such as agroforestry, especially in countries that have large smallholder agriculture holdings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]