Watershed Prioritization using Morphometricand Land Use Land Cover Parameters of Kamalang River Watershed using Remote Sensing and GIS Technology

Abstract With the increase in population and constant need of land and resources activities like cutting of trees, traditional 'Jhum' cultivation (shifting cultivation) are rapidly destroying the virgin tropical vegetation, apart from which natural hazards such as floods, erosion, and Stormy weather etc. are some of the natural causes because of which the natural environment of Kamlang River watershed area is disturbed. To manage the natural resources like land and water, for mitigating the impact of natural disasters and for achieving sustainable development in the study area a quantitative analysis for prioritization of watershed through morphometric and land use land cover parameters is calculated using watershed as it is an ideal unit for the study area of Kamlang watershed. Remote sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques provide planners with decision making resources and tools hence it became a popular tool for such kinds of studies. Morphometric parameters (linear and shape) and land use land cover parameters were used for assigning ranks based on which prioritization and ranking were made for all the sub-watersheds. Various categories of priority from high to low rank were assigned depending on the parameters and lastly, the compound value (Cp) of all the sub-watershed was calculated. Higher Cp was of low priority, lower Cp was of higher priority. The study showed the presence of high priority in the sub-watershed of SW64 and SW65 based on morphometric studies. Whereas based on land use land cover more numbers of sub-watersheds are in the high priority range for example SW1, SW6, SW8, SW12, etc. The collective result of morphometric and land use/cover analysis, however, gives a different result i.e., only SW65 is in the high priority zone. This means the sub-watershed of SW65 is more prone to erosion due to its morphometry and land use land cover type. Therefore, the implementation of soil and water conservation measures for this sub-watershed is necessary.