Land-Use and Land-Cover Classification of the Elephant Reserves of India

Abstract

In this report, the present status of the LULC of the ERs in India classified based on the BHUVAN LULC layer of NRSC for the year 2018 is provided. Only five major LULC classes have been provided for the ERs, which include forests, agriculture, water, fallow and human built-up areas. Further sub-classification of forests into different forest types and tree density, and agriculture Kharifharif and rabi crops was not done. Further, using geospatial layers for the years 1985, 1995, 2005, and 2018 broad comparisons between the years were made for all the five major LULC categories of the ERs to assess any major potential disparity between the years. Additionally, the linear infrastructure comprising major roads (National and State Highways) and the Indian Railway network were mapped based on 2018