Human-Induced Landscape Alteration in the Coastal Regulation Zone of Goa, India, from 2000 to 2017

In Goa, the tourism industry is the major cornerstone of the economy. With the increasing number of tourists along the coastal areas, more tourism-related infrastructure is emerging within the Coastal Regulation Zone. The sensitive and fragile coastal zones are being covered by concrete structures and the coastal environment becomes vulnerable to degradation. The objective of the paper was to study the changes in landuse and landcover in the Coastal Regulation Zone of Salcete taluka using remote sensing data and geospatial techniques. To fulfill the objective, both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data was based on personal observations and field visits while secondary data consisted of topographic maps, LANDSAT 7 ETM, and LANDSAT 8 satellite images, which were processed and analyzed using ArcGIS 10.3, ERDAS IMAGINE 2014, SAGA (System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses) and MS Excel. From the landuse and landcover analysis for a period of 17 years (2000-2017), it was found that the land cover within the CRZ underwent a tremendous change with the increase in tourism activity and related infrastructure. The analysis revealed that the agricultural area has decreased, whereas built-up areas, barren land, and vegetation area increased. The change detection analysis using SAGA software allowed to understand the conversion between different classes. The study revealed that the increasing number of tourists and tourism activities along the Salcete Coast is deteriorating the environmental setup and disturbing the inherent coastal landscape.