ALTERNATE LANDUSE PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF DRY TROPICAL FORESTS USING IRS IC SATELLITE DATA AND GIS

Deforestation rate is still continuing at alarming scale in the tropical forests, in spite of
establishing protected areas. It calls for better management strategies for biodiversity conservation. The prevalent strict environmental laws and mode of the establishment of protected areas are not sufficient for the long-term maintenance of the biological diversity. It is now accepted worldwide that to conserve the forest resources, it is necessary to integrate the socio-economically responsive plan along with the contemporary forest management practices. Remote Sensing data and GIS technology have effectively played a facilitating role for improved decision-making process for forest resource conservation and utilization. From this perspective a model has developed for sustainable management of forest resources in Kalrayan hills, Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu India using Satellite data and GIS tools. The various thematic layers pertaining to the forest types i.e., species richness, forest density, slope and drainage density are generated in GIS. Around ten forest types are derived covering an area of about 77% of the hill area. The species richness maps were based on data collected in field using sample plot method. Various classes of each thematic map were used based on weight designation for preparing the sustainable forest management map, which includes sites for conservation priority, reforestation, silviculture potential and agropasture. It is identified that 19.4% of the forest in the conservation priority area network and about 9% have the potential for reforestation, 16%, 0.76% area have the potential for silviculture and agropasture respectively. The present study is found to be an effective model for future conservation or management strategies.