Article Title :
Analysis of Land Use Land Cover in Annapurna Conservation Area in Gandaki Province Nepal using Vegetation Index and Land Use Land Cover Datasets
2 (2018)
87-99
Annapurna Conservation Area , land use land cover , Land , NDVI , Nepal , Vegetation
Conservation areas are originally well-known for protecting landscape features and wildlife. They are playing key role in conserving and providing a wide range of ecosystem services, social, economic and cultural benefits as well as vital places for climate mitigation and adaptation. We have analyzed decadal changes in land cover and status of vegetation cover in the conservation area using both national level available data on land use land cover (LULC) changes (1990-2010) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) (2010-2018) in Annapurna conservation area. LULC showed the barren land as the most dominant land cover types in all three different time series 1990, 2000 and 2010 with followed by snow cover, grassland, forest, agriculture and water body. The highest NDVI values were observed at Southern, Southwestern and Southeastern part of conservation area consisting of forest area, shrub land and grassland while toward low to negative in the upper middle to the Northern part of the conservation area.
LULC and NDVI datasets were used for accessing the status of vegetation and land inside the Annapurna Conservation Area.
The barren land is the most dominant land cover types in the study region.
The time series datasets are useful to detect the decade changes in land cover.
Maximum NDVI values were observed in the Southern and minimum in Northern parts of the study area.
The time series NDVI is useful for assessment and monitoring the conservation area in Nepal.
The findings of the study could enable to identify priority area for conservation and management strategy options for sustainable management of natural ecosystem in the conservation area.
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