Environmental vulnerability assessment of eco-development zone of Great Himalayan National Park,Himachal Pradesh,India |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Forestry and Ecology Department, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, ISRO, Dehradun 248001, India;2. Faculty of Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands;1. Department of Natural Resources, TERI University, New Delhi 110070, India;2. School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India;1. Posgrado en Geografia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 04510, México, D.F., Mexico;2. Laboratorio de Ecofisiología Tropical, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 04510, México, D.F., Mexico;1. Center for Biodiversity Conservation and Management, G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment (GBP-NIHE), Kosi-Katarmal, Uttarakhand, India;2. Department of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, SSJ University, Almora, India;3. Institut de Recherche sur les Foréts, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Amos, Quebec, Canada;4. GBP-NIHE, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora, Uttarakhand, India;1. Institute of General and Experimental Biology, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Sakh’yanovoi str., 6, 670047 Ulan-Ude, Russian Federation;2. Central Siberian Botanical Garden, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science, Zolotodolinskaya str., 101, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russian Federation;3. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;4. Tomsk State University, Lenina str., 36, 634050 Tomsk, Russian Federation;5. Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;1. School of Public Administration, Jinzhong University, Jinzhong, China;2. Jinzhong Culture Ecological Research Center, Jinzhong, China;3. School of Public Administration, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China;4. School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China |
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| Abstract: | The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP), located in western Himalaya, is a key mountainous ecosystem prone to environmental vulnerability because of anthropogenic stress and the natural disasters, viz., landslide and forest fire. We assessed the environmental vulnerability of the eco-development zone of GHNP using remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) technologies. To quantify the environmental vulnerability, a numerical model using spatial principal component analysis (SPCA) was developed. This model considered five factors: land use/land cover, forest canopy density, forest fire risk, landslide susceptibility and human population density. The environmental vulnerability integrated index (EVSI) calculated for the 1990, 2000 and 2010 periods was found to be 2.00, 2.72, and 3.40, respectively. The results showed temporal increase in the environmental vulnerability in the zone. Based on the numerical outputs, the vulnerability of the region was categorized into five classes: potential, slight, medium, high, and severe. The primary factor responsible for the increase in vulnerability overtime was land use/land cover change in the study area due to hydro-electric power projects, construction of roads, and other infrastructure developments. Forest fire and decreased forest canopy density are other major contributing factors responsible for the increase in the environmental vulnerability. Our results indicated that integration of RS, GIS and SPCA can effectively quantify and assess environmental vulnerability. |
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| Keywords: | Great Himalayan National Park Environmental vulnerability Remote sensing Geographic information system Spatial principal component analysis Environmental vulnerability integrated index |
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