Despite being protected by law, Assamese forest ecosystems are increasingly under threat from human activity, which has resulted in severe forest degradation, according to a research based on satellite images.
The study, which was conducted in the North Bank reserve forests, found that, aside from settlements, agricultural lands and open forests grew quickly while dense forests declined.
It also mentioned that, in the past ten years, similar incidents of encroachment have also surfaced in other Assamese reserved forests.
A group of researchers from Raha College, Gauhati University, and Dimoria College conducted the study over a thirty-year period (1990–2020) in the Behali Wildlife Sanctuary, Biswanath, Gohpur, Naduar, and Singlijan Reserved Forests using object-based image analysis. The Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 satellite imagery collections were downloaded from USGS Earth Explorer.
The results showed that the dense forest class of Behali Wildlife Sanctuary, Gohpur Reserved Forest, Biswanath Reserved Forest, and Naduar Reserved Forest had significantly decreased, while only Singlijan Reserved Forest had a 1.54 percent rise.
The Biswanath Reserved Forest saw the most pronounced decrease in dense forest over the course of 30 years, losing 65.92% of its dense forest.
Gohpur Reserved Forest (28.6%), Naduar Reserved Forest (27.02%), and Behali Wildlife Sanctuary (16.98%) all showed comparable losses in dense forest cover.
Biswanath Reserved Forest experienced a 40% increase in open forest class over the research period, despite a more noticeable loss of dense forest. The Gohpur Reserved Forest, on the other hand, has experienced significant forest degradation.
It's interesting to note that in 2020, 60.28 sq km of the Gohpur Reserved Forest became agricultural land, whereas in 1990, 34.13 sq km of barren terrain vanished entirely.
According to the research, "the reserve forest boundary was heavily compromised as settlements and agricultural land fully engulfed it." By 2020, the 6.2 sq km of barren land class that existed at Naduar RF in 1990 had entirely vanished, while the settlement and agricultural land classes had grown to 2.72 sq km and 12.7 sq km, respectively.
In 2020, agricultural land became a new category even within Behali Wildlife Sanctuary, taking up 19.5 sq km of the total 146 sq km, or 13% of the study area. With a total area of 1.05 sq km, settlements also emerged as a new category.
The researchers noted that "the expansion of agricultural land in Sonitpur East Forest Division is alarming, as it reflects increasing anthropogenic pressure that potentially contributes to habitat fragmentation and biodiversity loss."
The researchers came to the conclusion that the majority of the impoverished and underdeveloped communities living close to the protected forests periphery rely heavily on forest products for their survival and sustenance, placing significant biotic pressure on the forests ability to regenerate.
The study noted that "grazing by livestock and plantation of exotic species in the southern boundary of the forest division have aided in the further degradation of forests as part of socio-cultural practices of the local communities."
The report warns that forest expansion can worsen the strain on the remaining forest pieces, disrupt wildlife routes, and increase human-animal confrontations.
The Australian Geographer published the work by Sujata Medhi, Kunal Chanda, Sourav Chetia, Anup Saikia, and Ashok Kumar Bora.
