LAND USE AND LAND COVER CHANGE AND FOREST FRAGMENTATION IN PHIBSOO WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, BHUTAN

Abstract

Land use and land cover (LULC) change is driven by the anthropogenic forces and it is essential to monitor the LULC change dynamics to maintain the forest ecosystem. This research assessed the LULC of Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary which is one of the protected areas in Bhutan. The study was analysed using the Landsat imageries for five years from 2017 to 2021 using maximum likelihood classification. This research has also analyzed forest fragmentation using Fragstats which is one of the landscape metric tools. The key findings revealed that there is loss of dense forest at alarming rate but there is increase in agricultural land which is being triggered by the pandemic to ensure the food security in rural Bhutan. It has also found out that the degraded forest and barren land have been increased respectively up to 1.73 to 2.16 percent. In the landscape metrics it has depicted that the total area under forest, dense forest and moderately dense forest have been decreased whereas, the area under open forest and shrubs have been increased signifying that there is a loss of habitat for the wildlife. This research recommends Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Department of Parks and Services to find out the alternative interventions to control the forest fragmentation and change of LULC in wildlife sanctuary.