Environmental Risk Assessment in the Hindu Kush Himalayan Mountains of Northern Pakistan: Palas Valley, Kohistan

Abstract

Forest cover in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) mountains of northern Pakistan has changed dramatically due to community dynamics such as population growth, household dynamics, and intensive economic activity for people’s livelihoods. Demographic development is one of the major factors influencing forest cover change in a previously sparsely populated environment. An abrupt upsurge in population exerts adverse effects on the local natural resources, specifically forests. The present research shows an increase in population from 1980 to 2017, the development of human settlements, and a long-term decline in forest cover. This study was conducted in the Palas valley in the HKH mountains using GIS and remote sensing (RS) technology. Analysis of the changes between 1980, 2000, and 2017 was done using ArcGIS and the maximum likelihood algorithm for supervised classification of Landsat MSS TM ETM+ and Sentinel 2A satellite images. We used Euclidean distances and buffer analysis techniques to identify that most changes occurred within 1 to 3 km of the settlement’s proximity in each period. We also found changes in forest cover to be much greater near settlements than elsewhere in the study area. According to the findings of the study, population explosion and other socio-economic factors have imposed excessive pressure on vegetation cover, resulting in the loss of 17,076 ha of forests in the remote Palas valley.

Distribution, Risk Assessment and Source Identification of Potentially Toxic Elements in Coal Mining Contaminated Soils of Makarwal, Pakistan: Environmental and Human Health Outcomes

“…The sources of trace metal pollution in the soil samples were influenced by many factors, including natural and anthropogenic ones, as also reported by Hussain et al [18] and Chifflet et al [58]. Natural factors can be, for example, the weathering processes of rocks and minerals [59][60][61], while in many cases, the anthropogenic factors can include several activities, such as urban, agricultural, industrial, mining, or transportation [2,9,11,[61][62][63][64][65].…”

Animals Feed in Transition: Intricate Interplay of Land Use Land Cover Change and Fodder Sources in Kurram Valley, Pakistan

“…Data were collected through both primary and secondary sources, which is a wellestablished method utilized by a large number of studies [62,63]. The collected data were analyzed through statistical analysis and Geospatial techniques (Figure 2).…”