Spatio-temporal Analysis of Land Use/Land Cover Changes in Urban Forest Ecosystem

Abstract

Urban green spaces play a substantial role in alleviation of multiple environmental challenges caused by intensified urbanization. However, urban forests themselves are prone to degradation from unsustainable human activities. The forests of Delhi Ridge provide myriad of essential ecosystem services to the citizens of Delhi, though it is under immense anthropogenic pressure. This study is carried out for identifying the overall land use/land cover dynamics in the four different parts of Delhi Ridge in light of rampant urbanization in the area. Variations were estimated for the period of three decades (1989-2020) with the intervening gap of 5 years and Landsat data has been analyzed for this period. All the four parts of Delhi Ridge exhibit overall increase in the green cover with maximum percentage change in area in moderately dense forest class has been observed in Central Ridge (494.31%). On the contrary, there is also an increase in built-up area at the boundaries and also within the Ridge forest depicting severe human interference with maximum percentage change in built-up observed in Southern Ridge (339.28%). The present study provides baseline information on the spatiotemporal changes observed in the Delhi Ridge forest and also highlights the impact of urbanization. Such findings hold substantial implications in framing rational urban policies for ensuring long-term conservation of the fragile habitat of Delhi Ridge forest.

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