Implications of Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics on Tharparkar Region, Sindh Using Geo Spatial Tools

Abstract

Pakistan is consisting of versatile land features and climate which is supreme from rest of the world. Thar Desert is one of the largest fertile desert (arid region) which is sharing the border from Rajasthan facing the Run of Kutch from the south. Problem associated with this research area is ignorant deserted and range land is deficient of basic life necessities like food and clean water. Other climatic hazards that Thar is prone to drought, sand storms, earth quake and flash floods. However, the anthropogenic hazard is increase in settlements occur with the passage of time and occupied the barren land. The extension of built up area leads to disrupt the scenic beauty of Nagarparkar. GIS and Remote Sensing is technical approach to analyze the land use land cover change on the field. The satellite imageries of Landsat 5,7 and 8 from Earth explorer USGS of year 2001, 2008, 2016 and 2018 were used to study the land use land cover changes of Tharparkar by using geospatial tools. By the climatic record of the study area it will help to associate the rainfall and temperature with the LU/LC. This study assesses the biomass health and waterbody values using NDVI and NDWI to make a comparison between 2001 and 2018. This study exposed that the greater area covered with settlements and shrinking the water body capacity. On the other side the vegetation decreases with the significant numbers. The findings of the study play important role for policy makers in Pakistan to initiate and adopt the sustainable practices and land-use planning.