Monitoring Consumption of High-Quality Soil for Agriculture by Built Up Areas Using a GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Evaluation Approach in Lahore, Pakistan.

Abstract

In Pakistan, the majority of urban population has been found to be clustered in cities of Punjab as 17 out of the total 25 most populous cities of Pakistan are located in that state; but, the province of Punjab being the centre of agriculture activities of the country as well has to effectively utilize its land in order to meet the needs of both its urban areas and also to contribute significantly to nation’s economy through agriculture to ensure a sustainable development. Therefore, in view of its significance, this study was conducted on the district of Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab. For this purpose, Landsat TM and ETM images were acquired to map land use changes for the year 1991, 2000, and 2014 using classification techniques from which the built-up land was delineated and then overlaid on a land suitability map prepared using a/the Multi-Criteria Evaluation approach integrated with Geographic Information System (GIS). Results of the study showed that due to rapid urbanization in the last 23 years, the built-up land has increased more than 2.5 times from the year 1991 to 2014 in the Lahore District. This expansion of urban areas has largely consumed the most suitable land for agriculture which denotes the land with minor limitations that do not significantly affect crop farming; the availability of such land dropped from 85% in 1991 to almost 57% by 2014 and, in the next 25 years, it is projected to be reduced to only 26%. This reduction in the availability of most suitable land will force the lesser naturally advantageous land to be used for agricultural purposes. Furthermore, the results of this study have also been used to illustrate the practical application of the methodology for the land use planners and managers to demonstrate its applicability for efficient land resource management.