TITLE:
Mangrove Restoration and Regeneration Monitoring in Gulf of Kachchh, Gujarat State, India, Using Remote Sensing and Geo-Informatics
AUTHORS:
Ravi Upadhyay, Nischal Joshi, Atul Chandrakant Sampat, Arun Kumar Verma, Ajay Patel, Vijay Singh, Jaydipsinh Kathota, Manik H. Kalubarme
KEYWORDS:
Remote Sensing, Geo-Informatics, Mangrove Ecosystem, Change Monitoring, Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, Mangrove Regeneration, Community Based Organizations (CBOs)
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.6 No.4,
March
31,
2015
ABSTRACT: Indian coast harbors
richly diverse and critical coastal habitats like coral reefs and mangroves.
Mangroves form one of the most important ecosystems of coastal and marine
areas. It safeguards the ecology of the coastal areas and provides livelihood
opportunities to the fishermen and pastoral families living in these areas. In
real sense, mangrove is the Kalpvriksh (divine tree which fulfills all the desires)
for the coastal communities. The restoration and plantation of mangroves have
received a lot of attentions worldwide. To assess the impact of mangrove
plantation activities and to monitor the mangrove regeneration and restoration
in various villages, a joint study under the Integrated Coastal Zone Management
Project (ICZMP) was taken up by Gujarat Ecology Commission (GEC) and
Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics (BISAG) in
the Gulf of Kachchh, Gujarat State.The
major objective of this study was to monitor the increase in mangrove cover in
coastal areas of Gulf of Kachchh using the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite data
of 2005, 2011 and 2014. The mangrove regeneration was monitored using
multi-temporal Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) LISS-III and LISS-IV
digital data covering Gulf of Kachchh region. The multi-temporal IRS LISS-III
data covering Gulf of Kachchh of October-2005, November-2011 and LISS-IV data
of April-2014 was analyzed. The mangrove density and mangrove area in different
talukas was estimated based on the analysis of IRS LISS-III digital data. The
mangroves have been delineated based on the pink colour observed on satellite
images and the area was estimated in the Geographic Information System (GIS) environment.
The taluka or block-level mangrove areas were estimated and changes in the
areas were monitored during the period of six years from 2005 to 2011. It was
observed that the areas where mangrove regeneration activities were carried out
with active participation of Community Based Organizations (CBOs), mangrove
density as well as mangrove area have substantially increased in the Gulf of
Kachchh region.