Urban Sprawl of Srinagar City and its Impact on Wetlands- A Spatio-temporal Analysis

摘要

Wetlands across the whole Himalayan region are under increasing stress due to the rapidly growing population, technological development, urbanisation and economic growth, especially those wetlands that are located in and around the urban centres. To analyse the response of wetlands to urbanization, Srinagar- the largest and the fastest growing Himalayan urban centre has been taken as a pilot study. The city is facing the phenomenon of accelerated urbanization and resultant environmental degradation. It has a complex geo-ecological setup, dotted with a number of urban wetlands/lakes like Dal, Anchar, Nigeen, Babdemb, Khushalsar, Hokrasar etc. During the last century the magnitude of population growth, economic development and resultant spatial expansion of the city and its environs has increasingly assumed from significant to threatening proportions. The city has grown 12 times in terms of population and 23 times in terms of area between 1901 and 2011. The analysis has shown that increasing anthropogenic pressure coming from over exploitation, encroachment and reclamation of vast wetland areas for agriculture, commercial and residential development have led to fast shrinking of wetlands and have altered the rate and nature of wetland functions.