Abstract:
Land resources are the most valuable and significant, among the resources
available within a Country. They are also basic to all other activities within
that country. Land use depends on how the land is used for various purposes.
When land use is undertaken with proper planning, it leads to sustainable
developmental activities Kilinochchi district has undergone rapid land use
changes within the last thirty years. Such changes have been due to the
internal war, the Tsunami, increase in population as well as the deforestation
activities in this area. The secretarial division of Poonagary has been no
exception to such changes. The main purpose behind this study are to identify
the changes in the land use patterns of Poonagary secretarial division,
analyzing and comparatively observing the land use patterns on a periodical
base and point out the changes as well as the factors that led to such changes.
Geographical information system and remote sensing techniques have been
used to carry out this survey of land use changes. The primary data for land
use changes have been collected through direct field observation, while
secondary data are from high resolution satellite images, topographical maps
of the survey department and the statistical data available with the secretarial
division concerned. The changes were found out through the superimposition
of land use maps pertaining to the years 2002,2014 and 2020. In order to find
out how a certain type of land use got converted to another, the confusion
metric table was applied. A larger part of the changes had occurred in forests,
home gardens, agricultural lands and water bodies. Most of the changes have
been due to the increase in population. More land use changes on a regional
basis are obserued in areas including Pallikkuda, Nallur, Ponnagari
paramankitaai and Alankani. Thereby, this study recommends that the
information collected regrading land use and land cover, provide much
guidance, to understand the present land use situations, devise plans on such
bases and thereafter to implement them.
