Monitoring Forest Cover Change of Margalla Hills Over a Period of Two Decades (1992-2011): A Spatiotemporal Perspective

Abstract

Forests play a critical role in the provision of the ecological interconnectedness, and essential ecosystem services. Deforestation is a serious environmental problem throughout the world including Pakistan where a striking depletion of forest reserves has been an ecological concern for quite some time. Remote sensing techniques have been used to monitor land use and forest cover changes. The present study aims at visualizing the potential impacts of climate change and declining forest reserves on Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP). ERDAS Imagine 9.1 and ArcGIS 10.2 softwares were employed for the spatial and temporal analysis and visualization of over the past two decades. Our analysis revealed a great increase in the built-up area, barren soil and agricultural land, whereas diminishing trend is shown by the classes such as water body, lower vegetation, scrub and conifer forest. The conditions of the region are unsatisfactory and require conservation practices to be carried out in order to avoid susceptibility against ecological and socio-economic disturbances.