Analysing Land Uses

What is Land Use?

Land use is the use of land by human beings to satisfy their needs such as settlements, agriculture production, pasture land and forest etc. All types of land use are important to understand from a water requirement point of view. Therefore, important teachings during land use mapping are:

• Classification of various land use patterns in the village – this will be used later during planning map.
• Calculation of areas under different land use – this will be used during water balance calculation.

Land Use classification

Land Use classification can be taught in the following ways:

• Each trainee is to be asked to list the various uses of land use in his / her village.
• Summarise the list and sort out total land uses.
• Then categorise and subcategorises them as per purposes.
• National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) in May 2006 devised a Land Use & Land Cover classification system as its standard operational procedure. The major classes are
  
  • Built Up
  • Agricultural land
  • Forest
  • Wasteland
  • Wetlands
  • Water bodies
  • Others
• Built Up Area
  
  • Settlement
  • Road and communication network
  • Mining and Industrial areas
• Agricultural land
  
  • Rainfed agriculture
  • Irrigated agriculture
• Forest
  
  • Natural forest
  • Shrubs
  • Artificial Forest (Plantation)
• Wasteland
  
  • Cultivable waste land
  • Non Cultivable waste land
• Wetlands
• Water bodies
  
  • River / Stream
  • Pond / Tank
  • Reservoir / Dam / Weir
  • Sea
• Others (Grazing land)

Preparation of Land Use Map

• Each team should be sent to their study village/area.
• Hold group discussions with different groups of village people and identify and locate various land use as per the list prepared during class.
• Design specific colour code for land use after field visits.
• Colour each land with prescribed colour for identified land use.
• Prepare legend on the Map

Land Use Area Calculation

• Trace boundaries of different types of land use on graph paper with the help of carbon paper.
• Use different graph paper for different land use patterns.
• Calculate unit area per square cm of graph paper based on scale of basemap.
• Tip: If basemap has a scale 1cm = 100 m, then it is for one full square of graph paper 10000 sq. M or one hectare.
• Prepare table of land use area on map
• Edit Legend of basemap with land use information

Note: These calculated land uses will be used for land use wise water demand estimation in watershed and water balance map.

Source : Empowering Village Communities for A Sustainable Water Future - A Resource Book for Jaldoots