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Impact of Landuse and Landcover Changes on Population Dynamics in Flood-prone Majuli Island, Assam, India

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Abstract

This study focuses on the rapidly changing landscape of Majuli island, the world’s largest inhabited riverine island, constantly reshaped by the river Brahmaputra. Investigating the period from 1991 to 2022, we employ Landsat imagery to analyse changes in land use/land cover patterns and their consequential impacts on the island’s inhabitants, leading to significant relocation. We observed notable changes in the spatial coverage of the Brahmaputra, which increased while that of agricultural and barren land decreased. The land use/land cover change data are supplemented by population data to validate satellite data. This approach of analysing satellite imageries on population using both quantitative and qualitative data is novel and important since it not only highlights the rapidly changing land cover but also highlights the complex relationship between environmental dynamics and human responses. Our findings indicate that the population is increasingly (re)settling towards the northern and eastern stretches of the island. Since the population prediction map for the year 2051 indicates that this trend continues, our results can contribute an understanding of the human-environment relationship in the wake of climate change as an important component of planning processes.

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The sources of all resources used in this study are listed in the present article's 'Database' header.

Notes

  1. To compare the spatial distribution of the increasing households and settlements, the ‘Built up area’ class of Land Use/Land Cover Classification has been superimposed for both 1991 and 2022.

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Funding

There have been no specific funds received to carry out this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110007, India

    Prahelika Deka, Gopal Chowdhury & Ashis Kumar Saha

Authors
  1. Prahelika Deka
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  2. Gopal Chowdhury
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  3. Ashis Kumar Saha
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Contributions

Prahelika Deka conceived the idea and designed the study, gathering data from various sources. Gopal Chowdhury wrote the manuscript utilising acceptable techniques. Ashis Kumar Saha evaluated the text and authorised the final version for publication.

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Correspondence to Gopal Chowdhury.

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In this study, we took consent from each participant before the interview. The names of the participants were anonymised.

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Deka, P., Chowdhury, G. & Saha, A.K. Impact of Landuse and Landcover Changes on Population Dynamics in Flood-prone Majuli Island, Assam, India. Hum Ecol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-024-00504-6

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