ANNOUNCEMENTS
Wetlands are an integral part of an urban landscape. Analyses of the ever- evolving trends and patterns and modelling for the future paves a way towards guiding the present and future land use policies. In the present study, spatial-temporal dynamics of wetlands in the rapidly urbanizing city of Delhi were looked into through three lenses. Firstly, Land use Land Cover odifications using temporal dynamics of five lands use classes (water bodies, vegetation, built up, agriculture, and bare soil) for the year 1999, 2008, and 2018 were done using GIS and Remote Sensing. Through these past changes, a future prediction model was developed using MOLUSCE (Model of land use change evaluation) and FRAGSTATS was used to derive landscape metrics. Finally, a zoomed vision of four lakes in a wetland landscape was analysed on the basis of their surrounding temporal changes in two decades and the current health of these lakes was assessed for which the Water Quality Index was calculated. The predicted land uses’ areal extent for the year 2028 and 2038 indicated that the loss of the area under water bodies would continue along with transformation of agriculture to Built Up but the area under vegetation would remain stable if the government effort continued. Based on the results, it was inferred that the change of Urban Wetland Landscape pattern in last two decades was result of the combined action of urban expansion on the expense of area under water bodies and agriculture. Through this study suggestions putforth would be protection of the smallest of water bodies should be integrated in urban land use policy of Delhi and periodic land use analysis and monitoring should be inculcated for maintaining a healthy quality life in mega cities. Moreover, future visualization of growth pattern would help the urban planners to design the future development more efficiently, specially for sustainable utilization of water resources.
Keywords: Water Bodies; Urban Landscape, Delhi, MOLUSCE, Landscape metrics, FRAGSTATS.
