The expansion and impact of cement manufacturing units and mining areas in Lumshnong, Jaintia hills, Meghalaya

With the rapid developmental process taking place across the globe, there are several pockets widespread in North East Region of India which are becoming hotspots of land-use change. Industrial expansion is one of the main reasons for conversion of land-use/land-cover classes, particularly from forest to non-forest. This study focuses on the impact of the cement industrial and mining activities leading to the loss of forest cover in Jaintia hills district, Meghalaya, NE India. The region owing to its large natural resource store is becoming the zone of forest to non-forest conversion at a much faster rate. In this study, remote sensing has been used as a tool to observe the extent of land-use change using an automatic change detection software, Delta Cue to map the expansion of the cement industrial units and their impact on the vegetation in the immediate vicinity. The present study highlights the spread of the industrial units from 2005 to 2011 and the loss of vegetation.