Ecotourism has gained popularity among travelers in recent years due to the detrimental effects of conventional tourism. Purulia district in West Bengal (India), with its diversified picturesque landscape such as lush green forest, mesmerizing riverscape, lakes, waterfall, hills and uniqueness in the local community’s culture gives ample potentiality of ecotourism development. The aim of this paper to explore potentiality of ecotourism in Purulia district, West Bengal, India using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Geographical Information System (GIS). Initially, ecotourism inventory dataset was developed based on following criteria: Elevation, slope, proximity to river, distance from road, distance from settlements, distance from ecological sites, distance from railway, distance from tourism sites using ARC-GIS 10.6.1 software. Later, the suitability map of ecotourism development has been developed by applying Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) with combination of the criteria with their respective weights and categorized into five suitability classes as highly suitable (S₁), moderately suitable (S₂), suitable (S₃), less suitable (S₄) and unsuitable (S₅). Finally, after the identification of suitable zones, six alternatives ecotourism destinations are identified. This proposed method may be helpful for the local stakeholders and public administration in identifying potential ecotourism destination and planning for sustainable ecotourism development.

The behaviour of river flows during periods of recession can be better identified than in other periods. The Master Recession Curve (MRC) approach is a technical approach that is quite effective and efficient in modelling baseflow. This study aims to compare the shape of the MRC between linear and exponential reservoir models. The research method uses two linear reservoir models, the Depuit-Boussinesq equation and an exponential model based on exponential hydraulic conductivity. The results showed that the combination of recession parameters (initial recession discharge, constant and coefficients) for MRC manually linear and exponential reservoir models, and hybridization of genetic algorithm processes, showed that MRC visualization for linear reservoir models was more optimal compared to exponential reservoir models. These results are closely related to the slope of the MRC, where the linear reservoir model is gentler, and the exponential reservoir model is relatively steeper. The slope of the MRC for both reservoir models relates to the storage capabilities of the baseflow and the hydraulic conductivity properties of the study area. The gentle slope of the MRC has the properties of relatively slow storage and is relatively long stored. In contrast, the steep slope of the MRC determines the somewhat wasteful nature of storage.

The study integrates GIS, Remote Sensing and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to evaluate suitable sites for surface irrigation by taking eight parameters into account, including slope, elevation, distance to water source, land use, soil texture, soil type, soil depth, and soil drainage in Wama watershed. A numeric range was created by standardizing each parameter to a single measurement scale, with higher values denoting more suitable and lower values denoting less suitable one. The final site suitability map was prepared in GIS environment by using the weighted overlay method. Distance to streams (44%), slope (18%), elevation (13%), LULC (13%), and soil drainage (5%) scored highly in the pairwise comparison matrix. Additionally, they are the most crucial elements in evaluating eligible lands for surface irrigation, followed by soil depth (4%), soil type (3%), and soil texture (2%). The final suitability map, which will aid in supporting rain-fed agriculture by surface irrigation, was developed with four classifications highly suitable (16%), moderately suitable (49%), marginally suitable (34%), and not suitable (1%). Therefore, this study demonstrates a robust method of using GIS and remote sensing techniques, which is efficient and useful in mapping potential site suitability for surface irrigation and an important guideline for planners, and decision-makers to give the fast decision for irrigation management.

Tourism is a multidimensional sector having significant contributions to sustainable development, economic upliftment, and social benefits. Although the Bankura is full of tourism potential, but its’ tourism potentiality has not been properly used. This study is designed to identify the tourism potential zones of the Bankura district using a 5-steps integrated methodology, which includes the preparation of the thematic layers (Eight parameters and thirty-four indicators) (Step-1); creation of matrices for pair-wise comparisons (Step-2); classification of the raster maps (Step-3); use of the weighted sum method to get the composite variables (Step-4) and classification of tourism potential map using the natural breaks (Step-5). This study has selected eight parameters, which are the Tourist Intensity Measure (TIM), Climate (C), Physical (P), Social (S), Economy (E), Environmental Quality (EQ), Amenities (AN), and Diversity in Local Art and Crafts (LAC′). Approximately, 23.33% area is identified with a high tourism potentiality, 58.74% area is observed under the moderate tourism potentiality, and 17.92% area is recognized as a low tourism potentiality. Efficiency testing of the tourism potentiality map indicates high precision utilizing the considerably high R-square value (0.94). The study uses an exceptional methodological framework applicable in any region.