Assessing human interactions and sustainability of Wetlands in Jammu, India using Geospatial technique

Worldwide it has been observed that wetlands are facing severe threats due to ever-increasing anthropogenic activities. Therefore, this study is aimed to examine the threat and criticalities faced by the wetlands in different physiographic regions of Jammu Division. The study encompassing all the selected wetlands ecosystem aspects including limnology, eutrophication, biodiversity, and land use/land cover (LU/LC), so as to frame an ecologically balanced conservation strategy for the aquatic ecosystem of the region. The Landsat data has been used for LU/LC classification of the selected wetlands and finally change detection technique was used to quantify the changes. Evaluation of LU/LC revealed that all the selected wetlands are under stress due to diverse anthropogenic pressure. Except for Sanasar the two other wetlands under study showed human encroachment. Maximum encroachment was noticed around Gharana wetland (about 5 hectares area) and water body decreased by 02 hectares during the period 2008–2018. For threat assessment of the wetlands parameters such as biodiversity, the area under water bodies, Eutrophication and water quality were taken into consideration. The result showed that water quality was badly affected in terms of nitrogen and dissolved oxygen which could a cause for the sustainability of aquatic flora and fauna. Gharana wetland was found most threatened whereas Mansar, moderately and Sanasar the least threatened wetland. Further, the analysis shows that the impact of anthropogenic activities on wetlands decreases with an increase in altitude. All possible factors causing threats to wetlands have been discussed to formulate proper management strategies to conserve the wetlands.