Climate Change Impact on Land and Natural Resource in Chamba Tehsil of Himachal Pradesh State, India

Abstract

Climate change is one of most important issues facing the world today. Satellite based remote sensing data has providing key improvements to understand the climate changes impact on land and natural resource, by quantitative methods and spatio-temporal statuses of the land. Climatic change factors like temperature, evaporation, solar radiation, air impurities and precipitation are directly (due to changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide / climate) and indirectly (through complex interfaces in ecosystems) affect the land and natural resource. Output of this paper has approaching that climate change is not only an issue of the worldwide, but it is now a local problem in Himachal Pradesh / India. Due to climate change, temperature of the Chamba tehsil from Period-1 (1990-2001) to Period-2 (2002-2013) has increased form 19.28 ^oC to 19.79 ^oC (+0.52 ^oC), while precipitation has reduced from 1037.93 mm to 683.97 mm (- 353.97 mm), as well as agricultural land from 2001 to 2013 has reduce 41.42 Sq. Kms (-4.09%), dense forest has also reduce with 112 Sq. Kms. Soil erosion for the same period has increased approx. 76.50% (24.42 tons/ha/yr.).