Interpretation of land use/land cover dynamics with the application of geospatial techniques in sarbari khad watershed of Himachal Pradesh, India

Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) changes represent anthropogenic transformation of natural landscape. These changes are an important tool in developing strategies for the management of natural resources as well as monitoring environmental changes. LULC mapping and monitoring is required to understand the causes and consequences of over exploitation of natural resources such as land, soil, forest and water. By assessing the uses and misuses of resources and identifying the reasons for misuses, the measures for sustainable development of resources in the fragile Himalayan watersheds can be identified and implemented. The main objective of the present study is to assess the land use/land cover changes in the Sarbari Khad watershed of Kullu Valley. The Sarbari Khad watershed is part of Beas River basin. The changes in LULC have been detected by using remote sensing and GIS (Geographical Information System) techniques for a period of twenty-one years (2000–2021). The satellite images of the National European Space Agency Sentinal-2 of November, 2021 and LandSat-7 image of November 2000 were processed with the help of ERDAS Imagine (2015) and Arc View (3.2a) software. This study reveals that substantial amount of deforestation and snow cover retreat has occurred during this period of two decades due to anthropogenic activities such as expansion of agriculture, especially horticulture, tourism and infrastructure development.