CENTRE OF STUDIES IN RESOURCES ENGINEERING,
IIT, MUMBAI
Project Title: GIS-based
conservation planning of land resources (Spatial Decision Support
System for rural Land Use Planning – SDSS/LUP)
Thematic Area: Agriculture
/ Rural Development
Location: Chikballapur and
Gudibanda Blocks and Ramapatna Watershed in Kolar District, Karnataka
Objective: Development of
an executive-level SDSS for rural land use planning
Abstract: The established
procedure for development planning in India remains a top-down,
by way of schemes to address specific problems and opportunities.
These schemes are mandated and financed by the state or central
government and implemented by sectoral institutions in the district,
the key level for decentralized planning.
The concept of Spatial Decision Support System for Land Use Planning
(SDSS/LUP) is to draw together the natural resources and land
use data of sectoral agencies (topography, satellite imagery,
census reports and thematic maps), process them to computer-compatible
format, and build up a district database.
At the outset, a needs assessment was carried out amongst district-level
staff to establish their requirements for spatial data. It proved
difficult for them to articulate their needs but a number of specific
requirements emerged from these discussions: Area (watershed/sub-watershed)
selection for schemes for conservation planning by various line
departments; Site selection for conservation and water resources
infrastructure; Land evaluation for changes in land use (economic/conservation/radical
options).
A vector-based prototype model, with ArcView GIS as the user-interface,
was developed with two talukas (sub-district) and a rural watershed
in Kolar District, Karnataka, India to test the concepts of SDSS/LUP.
Although the prototype SDSS is specific to the test area, the
methodology is designed to be applied to any area of India with
local calibrations.
Preliminary results include prototype development on:
-
DSS on automated watershed characterization
(drainage-network/stream-order; slope and watershed delineation);
-
DSS on generating various scenarios for
selecting the priority watersheds/sub-watersheds: (a) degree
to which watershed/sub-watershed satisfies the objectives
of a particular scheme (based on physical and social
indicators) – National Watershed Development Programme for Rained
Agriculture (NWDPRA) scheme
criteria ( Table1,
Figure1);
(b) on-site effects – Morgan’s soil erosion
model; (c) off-site/down-stream effect – All India Soil &
Land Use Survey (AISLUS) Sediment Yield
Index model; and (d) actual extent of degraded lands
obtained from remotely-sensed
data for rehabilitation;
-
DSS on suitable sites for percolation tanks
in a watershed – Integrated Mission for Sustainable Development
(IMSD) criteria.
Land evaluation for changes in land use is a more complex task,
and at present the options are limited by the availability and
scale of fundamental data. The problem of inadequate data is being
handled in two ways: (1) Land use sustainability assessment (LUSA):
To provide an immediate and useful service to decision makers,
physical hazards have been identified. Then, indicators of these
hazards for which information can be obtained have been sought.
These indicators or limitations have been ranked in order of the
ease of obtaining data. On the basis of the identification of
hazards, district staff can design management packages to combat
the threats to the sustainability of the desired land use, or
recommend an alternative land use. A framework for LUSA has been
developed, with additional rice and irrigation loops in the system.
(2) Transfer functions and models: Transfer functions are being
developed to derive the single attribute data from the complex
data. As far as land evaluation is concerned, the module is not
very sophisticated but robust and functions with the data that
are actually available in every district in India.
The SDSS/LUP decision-aid, presumably, is technically a tightly
defined system that has internal consistency.
Data Used:
Highlights/Findings:
The decision-support service that can be provided as of now meets
the needs specified during the needs assessment: A prototype DSS
on selection of priority watersheds/sub-watersheds and site selection
for percolation tanks; and framework on land use sustainability
assessment. With a better database we can provide a better service
to the rural land use managers.
Date of project completion:
31 January 2000
Total Cost of Project: Rs.
10, 42, 900/-
Project Investigator:
Dr J. Adinarayana
Centre of Studies in Resources Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay
Powai, Mumbai – 400 076
Telephone: 022-2576 7689
Fax: 022-2572 3480
Email: adi[at]iitb[dot]ac[dot]in
Home page: http://www.csre.iitb.ac.in/adi/
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