Abstract

Forest cover is an important natural resource which should be conserved on priority basis for sustainable environmental management; however, escalating levels of anthropogenic disturbances have exhorted tremendous pressure on these forests. Depletion of forest has directly affected many ecological, social and economic consequences including extinction of biotic communities leading to loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, global warming and thereby loss of income to forest dwellers. In the present study, forest cover mapping of Western part of Kolhapur district for the year 1989 (TM), 1999(ETM+) and 2012(LISS III) was attempted by digital image processing technique using ERDAS IMAGINE 9.1. The study elucidated three main classes within study region viz. Very dense forest, moderately dense forest and open forest. Result showed that, in 1989 total forest cover was 202675.3 ha, 159376.9 ha in 1999 and 119572.1 ha in 2012. These values of forest cover area indicated decreasing trend in forest cover and thus warrants remedial actions to conserve this vital resource.

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