University of Twente Student Theses
Environmental vulnerability assessment of eco-development zone of Great Himalayan National Park, Himachal Pradesh, India
Singh, Chittaranjan (2012) Environmental vulnerability assessment of eco-development zone of Great Himalayan National Park, Himachal Pradesh, India.
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| Abstract: | The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP), located in Western Himalayan region, is a key mountainous ecosystem prone to environmental vulnerability due to anthropogenic stress and natural disasters such as landslide and forest fire. The environmental vulnerability of GHNP has been assessed using remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS) technologies. In order to quantify the environmental vulnerability, a numerical model using spatial principle component analysis (SPCA) is developed. This model considered five factors including landslide, forest fire, forest density, population density and landuse landcover change. The environmental vulnerability integrated index (EVSI) of the study area is calculated for 1990, 2000 and 2010 having values 2.44, 2.61, 2.88 respectively. The results showed an increasing trend of environmental vulnerability in the region. Based on the numerical outputs, the vulnerability of the region is categorized into five classes: potential, slight, light, medial and heavy by using cluster principle. The primary factor responsible for an increasing vulnerability is landuse landcover change in the study area due to human social economic activities like upcoming hydro power projects. The outcome of the study shows that integration of remote sensing, GIS and SPCA can be effectively used to quantify and assess environmental vulnerability of the region. The future challenge lies in considering more number of relevant factors of change like climatic and socio – economic conditions thus providing more informed insights into the state of environmental vulnerability and related dynamics. Keywords: GHNP, environmental vulnerability, RS, GIS, SPCA, EVSI |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | ITC: Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation |
| Programme: | Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation MSc (75014) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/93420 |
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