the total
orest type of
and Tropical
asslands. The
nbining both
) sq. km, i.e.,
> district.
; with various
S, in which
lands having
d wastelands.
'e forestlands
percent of the
to an area of
lite image in
eas including
39.14 sq. km.
IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, "Resource and Environmental Monitoring", Hyderabad, India,2002
Figure-3: Land Use and Land Cover map
CLASS NAME AREA (Sq. Km)
Dense forest > 0.6 957.03
Dense forest 0.4 —0.6 608.07
Open forest 0.2-0.4 985.65
Crop land 595.10
Degraded forest 0.1 —0.2 1276.59
Scrubs « 0.1 416.84
Upland agriculture 725.13
Bauxite area I 49.15
Bauxite area II 25.99
Crop land 1526.72
Fallow Land 3723.09
Settlements 107.80
Sandy area 39.14
Water bodies 124.69
Total 11160.96
TABLE - 1: LAND USE/ LAND COVER CATEGORY
4. CONCLUSION
The present study highlights the fact that digital image
processing and hybrid classification techniques are useful for
showing broad categories of land use/ land cover classes. This
provides an accurate basic information of land use/ land cover
of Visakhapatanam district. Optimum exploitation of natural
resources without causing deterioration in its value or quality is
the main criteria to achieve sustainable development of the area
under study. But the increase in population both human and
livestock is alarming and needs to be tackled by a holistic
approach for sustainable development to achieve self-reliance in
terms of meeting the demands of food, fodder, fuel wood and
water requirement. The only way is to integrate all the
information pertaining to an area and to find out ways to
tackle/control the land degradation, soil erosion, deforestation
etc and create awareness on ecological conservation and
preservation of natural resources on a sustained basis. Some of
the management practices can be implemented for sustainable
development of the district.
ACKNOWGEMENTS
The Authors are grateful to Dr. Manju G, RRSSC,
Kharagpur, India for his kind co-operation during this work.
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