Identification of land cover changes of the Haor area and its impact on livelihood assets

Abstract

The haor basin is a low lying bowl-shaped basin covering about 6,000 sq. km in Sylhet Division, mostly in Sunamganj district. The haor basin is important fish production area of the country and it has some commercial and ecological importance. These wetland area very important habitats for the unique and dynamic ecosystems, which have immense productive and ecological value. The state of the haor ecosystem is changing and it makes the livelihood dependent on it more vulnerable. Climate change and land cover changes are expected to increase the risk of flash floods in the haor region. The agriculture sector of haor area is expected to be heavily impacted by land cover changes. Therefore, attempt has been made to identify the status of land cover of the haor area of between 2000 and 2008 with a view to detecting the land cover changes that has taken place in the haor area using Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing data. This study was aimed to detect the land cover changes, inundation area, flash flood timing and to assess of impact on livelihood assets of haor areas. This study reveals the existing scenarios of haor area and change of patterns from 2000 to 2008. This study is based on secondary data and field visits. In this study MODIS TERRA satellite images are used for detecting of the changes of Haor area and its impacts on livelihood groups and assets. MODIS data/images were processed and analyzed using ILWIS software. Studies have shown that the NDVI value is minimum in 2004, 2000 and 2002 is about 0.32, 0.34 and 0.35 respectively whereas in 2003 and 2006, the NDVI value is maximum. It is found that land cover in the study area has been changed significantly since 2000. Analysis revealed that the vegetative cover area has increased to about 8.35% compared to the 2000 vegetative cover areas whereas in 2000 (8880.892 sq. km.) and 2008 (10635.64 sq. km). The change pattern of mixed land cover is somewhat unchanged except 2001 and 2006. In contrast, the other land cover category i.e. water bodies has been reduced greatly and converted to other land cover areas. In this study, impacts on livelihood assets due to land cover changes were assessed by focus group discussing (FGD) and interviews. In this study, a set of capitals such as natural capital, physical capital, human capital, social capital, financial capital was considered as the representatives of livelihood assets to the development of livelihood strategies of the haor areas. It has been found that the access of livelihood groups to livelihood capital i.e. natural capital, physical capital, human capital, social capital and financial capital is changed from 2000 to 2008. The impacts of land cover changes to the livelihood groups of the haor area is positive trend except the natural capital.