Geospatial Analysis of Waterlogging Impacts on Land Use/Cover in Jashore District, Bangladesh (1980–2019)

Abstract

Waterlogging poses a significant threat to a developing country's long-term growth. This research presented the impacts of waterlogging on land use land cover (LULC), located in the five water-logged unions (Kultia, Durbadanga, Haridaskati, Sundoli, Nehalpur) under Manirampur Upazila of Jashore District. Primary data were collected through FGD, KII and questionnaire and secondary (TM Landsat satellite images) data are collected from USGS and Google Map. In addition, district, upazila and union cadastral maps are collected from Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). Hybrid classification methods (supervised and unsupervised) are applied to achieve the objectives of this research. The study reveals significant changes in LULC from 1980-2019. Agricultural land area has been drastically reduced from 6720.84 to 3112.11 ha. Correspondingly, water bodies have increased from 2030.04 to 4993.2 ha. Besides, the vegetation cover has slightly increased from 2873.88 to 2900.43 ha, and the settlement area has more than doubled from 453.24 to 945.36 ha during these 40 years (1980-2019). The study claims that waterlogging has significant impacts on all the components of LULC. The novelty of this research is it focused on the waterlogging impact of the Jashore District as it is not discussed like other coastal areas of Bangladesh. The findings of this research should be used as a guideline for the policy makers, the NGOs and the other organizations to take decisions in the study area.