Abstract:
Deforestation and forest degradation is one of the major reasons behind climate change. It has caused reduction in carbon sinks followed with the escalation of carbon footprints. The forestland change for the present study has been determined using Remote Sensing and GIS. They had played a very important role in determining climate change in Islamabad over 25 years (1992-2017). The two climate variables investigated during the present study is carbon emissions (which is determined through Land Use/ Land Cover Change (LULCC)) and Land Surface Temperature (LST). In accordance with the study results, LULCC has shown 22% reduction in the forest cover in Islamabad city from 1992 to 2000. It has caused the release of 7046.3 carbon tons per hectare into the atmosphere. Furthermore, 27% reduction in forestland has been observed from 2000 to 2008, with the release of 8704.48 carbon tons per hectare. Finally, from 2008 to 2017, 51% deforestation and forest degradation has occurred with the release of 13579.5 carbon tons per hectare. Profound carbon emissions release has been observed in the contemporary developed sectors (G-13, G-15, H-10, D-12, and I-16) of Islamabad, which were covered with vegetation and forest cover back in 1990. Alongside the increase of carbon emissions, forestland change has also resulted in the rise of Land Surface Temperature (LST) from 1992 onwards till 2017. The LST range is between 13-27oC for the year 1992. However, by the year 2000, when forestland change has increased, the temperature range has also shifted to 16-34oC. Finally, the temperature range has reached 23-43oC by the year 2017, when deforestation and forest degradation in the city is at its maximum. The results observed are in consistent with the study hypothesis and it is inferred that there exists a direct correlation between forestland change, carbon emissions and LST. The Ministry of Climate Change had provided two major polices, which are National Climate Change Policy 2012, and National Forest Policy 2015. These polices had stressed on the protection of forestland in order to curb climate change.
