INVESTIGATING LOCAL PROTECTION EFFORTS IN FOREST VEGETATION CHANGE IN ORISSA, INDIA, USING NOAA AVHRR DATA

Abstract

Twenty-nine NOAA AVHRR images pre-produced in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were used to detect vegetation changes in three areas: a forest under local protection, a reference forest and the total forest area in Ranapur area, Orissa state, India. The data were from April 1992 to January 1996, a period when changes in forest vegetation due to local protection initiatives could be expected. Rainfall data were used to correlate the vegetation change, but neither simultaneous rainfall nor rainfall at time lags of three months showed correlation. From analysis of the NDVI images, the reference forest showed the greatest vegetation growth of 7%, while the locally protected forest and the total forest had a growth of 4% each from 1992 to 1996. Analysing the areal extent of growth, unchanged and decreased forest vegetation through NDVI gave a mean growth of 68.5% in the reference forest followed by 63 and 61 % for the total forest and the locally protected forest areas respectively. The locally protected forest was increasing its vegetation status without decreasing that of the adjacent forest; thus the total forest area was going through a stage of vegetation growth.