Semi-quantitative analysis of land use homogeneity and spatial distribution of individual ecological footprint in selected areas of Eastern fringes of Kolkata, West Bengal

摘要

Land-use change is a part and parcel of urbanization and is carried out by the active participation of people and their technology. But with significant land-use change over an area, the surrounding ecology also changes. Hence it is essential to assess and control the unabated resource consumption rate. This paper makes an attempt to study the change in land-use over a span of more than 25 years and calculate the present individual ecological footprint. Further, an effort has also been made to analyse the relationship that exists between changing land-use mix index and current individual ecological footprint. Though urbanization is a boon in developing countries, increasing land-use changes linked with increasing ecological footprints, as found in the study area, suggests that urbanization has been more exploitative than sustainable in nature having a detrimental effect on the environment. This problem needs to be addressed with sustainable environmental management plans.