Land Use and Land Cover Changes in the Area with the Highest Rainfall in the World (Meghalaya Plateau, India): Causes and Implications

Abstract

The Meghalaya Plateau is an area where human activity has caused deforestation which, in the extreme monsoonal rainfall conditions, has led to soil degradation and expansion of grasslands at higher altitudes. The shortening of the shifting cultivation cycle resulting from the demographic growth, is generally considered to be the major cause of deforestation and the degradation of soil in this area. Analysis of the land use and land cover indicates a lack of response of the forest and grassland area to the population increase in the twentieth century. The radiocarbon dating of iron slags and supplemented data from historical reports has led to the formulation of a new hypothesis, connecting the deforestation with the 2000 year-old practice of charcoal production for smelting iron. High rainfall and impoverished soil together with the annual practice of vegetation burning are the causes of the present day stability of the land use and land cover system inherited from the past.