Abstract:
This paper evaluates the effect of climate
change (described in terms of temperature and rainfall) on
forest cover and vegetation (described in terms of Normalized
Difference Vegetation Index) in the Betwa river basin,
a tributary of River Yamuna in Central India. Temperature
and rainfall data of 18 stations, forest cover and vegetation
(derived using 5 years data from Landsat images employing
ERDAS Imagine and ArcGIS) were used in the analysis.
The effect of climate change was studied for both the premonsoon
and post-monsoon seasons. In this study, the
simple regression method was used to evaluate their relationship.
In pre-monsoon season, temperature and forest
cover analysis shows regression coefficient value of 0.6876
and, temperature and vegetation analysis shows regression
coefficient value of 0.5751. Further, in post-monsoon season
analysis rainfall and forest cover shows regression coefficient
value of 0.8417 and, temperature and vegetation analysis
shows regression coefficient value of 0.6854. The study
reveals that, in pre-monsoon season temperature was significantly
related with forest cover and vegetation. In postmonsoon
season rainfall exhibited positive response to
forest cover and, temperature exhibited negative response to
vegetation in the Betwa river basin.
