Land use and land cover change in part of Satluj flood plain Punjab

Abstract

The present work is an analysis of land use and land cover change in the Punjab Satluj floodplain. The work has been accomplished in Humanenvironment relations tradition of geography. Human-environment relations have been studied from various perspectives. It began with the German construct of Landschaft and was adapted in the English speaking world first as Landscape Ecology . The paradigm of Environmental Determinism was current during this phase and the natural/physical forces were viewed as determinants of landscape features. The rise of Possibilism gave currency to the construct of Cultural Ecology and the unit of study then was the Cultural Landscape wherein the human element was perceived to have greater agency. The frequent occurrence of disasters and rising of grave environmental concerns led to the resurgence of neo-determinism wherein the primacy of physical factors has again been extolled. The criticism of Diamond s work led to an acknowledgement of structural factors that play a role in influencing the landscape of any area (Sluyter, 2003). Human environment relations are now studied from the perspective of coupled Human and Natural System. newline