Objectives

Fuel wood tree inventory data is collected in sample villages, which helps in estimating biomass from, i) forest inventory coverage only, ii) combining the forest inventory results with remotely sensed estimates of biomass, and iii) using the remotely sensed estimates of biomass to populate the entire study area. Main objective of this study is to map spatially available bioresources on a regional basis  to examine the fuel availability and demand, and also mapping at species level (of  dominant fuel wood species - Prosopis juliflora) to aid regional decision makers with management decisions which are largely a function of monitoring tree (forest, plantation, etc.)  stand volume by species. The technique involves:

1. Land cover analyses – to distinguish regions under vegetation and non-vegetation through the computation of slope based and distance based vegetation indices (depending on the level of vegetation cover or aridity).
2. Land use analyses - Supervised classification approach, to delineate land use pattern in the district.
3. Village level land use analysis to determine spectral response patterns of predominant species.
4. Mapping of dominant fuel wood species used by the local people and validation of mapping at species level.