Assessment of Land Use Dynamics of Okhla Bird Sanctuary, Delhi Using Geospatial Technology

Okhla Bird Sanctuary (OBS) is known as the home of migratory birds located within the territory of the Indian national capital, Delhi. The sanctuary is providing excellent contribution in terms of groundwater recharge for the city dwellers. Due to high demand of open land in the vicinity of the industrial and economic area, the sanctuary has been targeted for the expansion of those activities. As a result of that a good number of areas within the OBS have undergone changes in last few decades. Here, an attempt has been made to assess the changes in land uses within the sanctuary from 1977 to 2010 utilizing geospatial technology. It has been found the predominant activity in the OBS is agriculture ranging from 24 to 46 percent during all the years. The most targeted land use has been forest areas which were reduced to 1.08 percent, while during 1977 it covered more than 38 percent. However, the area under water body has been increased with the passes of time reason may be due to the construction of Okhla barrage in mid 1980s. It was observed during the study area that there were remarkable increase of fallow/ built up area during the period.