Monitoring shifting cultivation using space-borne multispectral and multitemporal data

The study of the dynamics of shifting cultivation assumes great significance in the context of maintaining a healthy ecosystem for sustaining life on the Earth. Space-borne multispectral and multitemporal data hold extremely good promise for delineating and monitoring the spatial distribution of shifting cultivation areas. In the study reported here, Landsat MSS data for 1978 and 1984, acquired during the same season, were interpreted monoscopically to map shifting cultivation areas and to monitor its spatial variation during this period. The results show an increase in the areal extent of shifting cultivation areas, of about 100 per cent in 1984 as compared with 1978.