The Assessment of land use land cover and carbon sequestration in forests of Joida Taluk of Uttar Kannada district using Remote sensing technique

The study was conducted in Joida Taluk of Uttar Kannada district, Karnataka to assess the land use land cover (LULC) and carbon sequestration of the forest during the year 2019-20. The ground truth data for different LULC was collected using GPS, and data was used for classification of IRS LISS 4 data using maximum likelihood classifier in ERDAS imagine software. The sample plots of 23.2 m X 23.2 m were laid out randomly in forests and growth parameters (tree height and diameter) were recorded, and biomass was estimated using the standard formula. There are eight LULC classes’ viz., dense forest, moderately dense forest, open/sparse forest, scrub forest, agriculture, settlement, horticulture plantation and waterbody. The overall accuracy of the classification was 97.09%. The total biomass in Joida Taluk from four forest classes (dense forest, moderately dense forest, open/sparse forest and scrub forest) was 44.16 million m3 and carbon sequestered was 15.57 million tonnes. The NDVI values ranging from -0.23 to 0.74, indicating a higher value for dense forest. Based on this study, it is concluded that forests have potential in carbon sequestration, which in turn helps in mitigating the climate change.