A Landscape Ecology Approach to Strengthen Protected Area Network in Gondia District of Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Land degradation will be accelerated as a result of changes in land use brought about by industrialization, urbanisation and the expansion of agricultural land. Planners need to know the current distribution and area of such agricultural and urban lands, as well as information on their changing proportions. Land use managers should support the construction of a network of protected areas that contribute to natural resource conservation and sustainable usage. The current study considers a landscape-ecology approach to strengthening the protected area network in Maharashtra's Gondia district. According to the data, the district's land usage is classified into nine categories: (1) cultivated land (2) Forest area (3) land under non agriculture use (4) barren and uncultivated land (5)cultivable waste land (6) permanent pastures (7) land under miscellaneous tree crops and groves(8) current fallows (9) other current fallows.Despite the lack of data on the environmental impacts of these land-use shifts, the study finds that deforestation, urban growth, agriculture, and other human activities have all reduced the quality of land resources.The paper concludes with an integrated assessment of landscape ecology, as well as an examination of the basic protected areas and recommendations for improvement.