Assessment of landuse changes in the Batticaloa district (2000 -2003/2005) for the preparation of a (spatial) zonation plan to aid in decision making for development

Abstract

The land cover or landuse over the eastern region, such as the Ampara, Batticaloa districts in Sri Lanka, has rapidly changed in the last twenty years (mainly as a consequence of the unpredictable socio-political system). Land cover change induced by anthropogenic factors as such is a detrimental force to the ecological stability of the localities. As such, estimating the spatial extents of land cover change or transformation and inferring the patterns (inherent) are of paramount importance when it comes to soundly managing the natural resources (and consequently planning for sustainable development) in the said districts. In this respect, detection of Landuse changes becomes essentially (and only) possible by the data generated by space-borne sensors. The objective of this study is to detect the landuse changes in the Batticaloa district between years July 2000 and May 2003 using space borne information and maps based on a local survey. As such, Landsat images data was analyzed using GIS and remote sensing tools in synergy for this study. Parallely, land use maps based on a local survey and statistical data were also used for comparision. Results indicate the severity of the changes in the landcover types and emphasise on the need for the establishment of a sound zonation plan as a mitigatory measure. This paper also presents an initial framework for an effective zonation plan (or map) on the spatial domain to aid in development focused decision making based on the results obtained on the land use changes at local scale. Arguably, this research paper can be considered unique as it is by and large the first ever attempt (in a scientific manner) to apply GIS and remote sensing tools for landuse mapping in the Batticaloa district.