Land use changes in udumbanchola taluk, idukki district—Kerala: An analysis with the application of remote sensing data

Udumbanchola Taluk, located in the fragile zone of Western Ghats in the Idukki District of Kerala has undergone severe land use changes in the past century. The changing land use scenario of Udumbanchola Taluk was assessed using remote sensing technique. The historic land use map was derived from topographic maps of Survey of India, surveyed in 1910 and published during 1912–14. The land use map of 1997 was generated through the visual interpretation of IRS—1 C LISSIII images supported by ground truths and was observed that the original land use system was highly modified. The comparative study shows that the settlement areas that occupied hardly 0.73 % in 1910 were increased to 30.57 % in 1997 by transferring forest lands, grassland and cardamom plantations. Due to the depletion of natural vegetation and grassland system by the establishment of houses, cash crops and infrastructure facilities, combined with the absence of sufficient land management measures in the side slopes resulted severe land degradation and the present status of degraded lands is about 14.12 % of the total geographical area. It is also observed that the prevailing agro-climatic conditions favorable for the sustenance of sensitive crops like cardamom has undergone changes mainly due to the impact of large-scale land use modifications.