Monitoring of Vegetation Cover and Land Use in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve

Abstract

India possesses a distinct identity not only its j;cography, history and culture but also by its vegetation which vades from tropical rain forests in Andaman and Nicobar Islands to dry alpine forests high up in the Himalayas. In between these two extremes, the country has a large variety offorest types/bio-diversity. To develop and sustainably maintain adequate forest cover in the country, it is essential that the state of vegetation cover is monitored regularly, precisely and at relatively short time spans. With this in view, the present paper attempts to show the impact of changes in the forest cover in one of the India's biosphere reserve - Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, which was constituted by Govt. of India on Feb 4, 1998 to conserve the biodiversity and integrity of plants, animals and micro-organisms, not in isolation but in their totality as part of the wider natural eco-system, safeguard genetic diversity of the species on which their continuing evolution depends and improve the socio-economic conditions of the people living in and around the reserves. The analysis provided in the paper shows that in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve area, the forest cover has increased showing a positive trend, which needs to be maintained.