Geospatial Survey of Munnar
REPORT
ON Date: 29-06-2008
The Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment
(KSCSTE) has been entrusted by the Government for conducting
a geospatial survey of Munnar Panchayat to determine the
status of the Cardamom Hill Reserves.
The survey, including the CHR forest area would be undertaken
using modern tools of geomatics such as remote sensing
data and GIS-based techniques. Soon a task force comprising
scientists from various research institutes of the State
would be set up. A monitoring committee has already been
set up for this. The committee is chaired by KCSTE executive
director E.P. Yesodharan. Kamalakshan Kokkal, Principal
Scientific Officer at KCSTE will be the convenor. The other
members include Centre for Earth Science Studies Director
M. Baba and Kerala Forest Research Institute Director K.U.
Sankaran.
The survey would include cadastral mapping in a digital
format with area measurements. The land use and land cover
information will be mapped in a 1:4000 scale in digital
format which would also have details on the elevation,
terrain features and slope, without giving any loopholes
for future disputes. Landscape, the type of soil prevalent
in the area and other related parameters would be distinctly
marked.
The task force would mark drainage networks of an area
with watershed boundaries. Waterbodies such as ponds, lakes
and rivers will also be clearly marked. Government offices,
educational institutions, hospitals, health centres and
landmark buildings will also be marked.
The
Cardamom Hill Reserves comprising 87,000 hectares lies
at an elevation of 2500 to 3500 feet on the western slopes
of the Western Ghats. Though notified as reserve forest
by the erstwhile Travancore Government in 1987, large
areas of CHK were leased out for cardamom cultivation
from the start. Encroachments on 25,000 hectares were
regularised in the wake of the UDF Government’s
decision to condone the pre-1977 encroachments.
Related
links:
>
Resources Mapping of Panchayats
>
First Scientific Resource Map
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