Environmental Changes in the Hindu Raj Mountains, Pakistan

• Main Authors: Fazlul Haq, Liaqat Ali Waseem, Fazlur-Rahman, Ihsan Ullah, Iffat Tabassum, Saima Siddiqui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Mahidol University 2018-10-01
• Series: Environment and Natural Resources Journal
• Subjects: Global environmental change; Mountain environment; Resource degradation; Natural resource base; Deforestation
• Online Access: https://www.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/ennrj/article/view/162167

Global Environmental Change among the world’s mountains has become a field of interest for researchers and this issue has been widely studied in many parts of the world. This exploratory research aims to study the changes that have occurred and are still occurring in the Hindu Raj Mountains of northern Pakistan, which is an unexplored region with a wide potential for research. To study the changes in various aspects of physical and social setup, five villages/sub-valleys were selected at varying altitudes above mean sea level. Changes in the bio-physical environment were explored using remote sensing technology. It was found that drastic changes have taken place and are still going on in the natural environment as well as the socio-economic setup of the study area since 1970. The population of the study area has increased by manifold resulting in changes in the household and family structure. Moreover, the land use land cover of the study area has changed considerably. Forest cover has decreased drastically with an increase in both the built up and barren land areas.