Exploring the nexus between land use land cover (LULC) changes and population growth in a planned city of islamabad and unplanned city of Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

For the last three decades, Islamabad - a planned city, and Rawalpindi - an unplanned city, have experienced massive land use and land cover changes. The main objective of this study was a comparative assessment and quantification of LULC changes in relation to population growth and urbanization from 1990 to 2021 with the help of satellite imagery and population data in planned and unplanned cities. For classification four land-use land cover classes: built-up, vegetation, bare land, and water were selected. Maximum likelihood algorithm and confusion matrix were employed for classification and accuracy assessment. Results revealed that built-up increased from 5.7% (52 km2) to 25.7% (233 km2) and 3.7% (60 km2) to 14.1% (228 km2) from 1990 to 2021 for Islamabad and Rawalpindi, respectively. Wherein the bare land decreased from 42.2% (382 km2) to 18.1% (164 km2) in Islamabad and 65.5% (1058 km2) to 32.1% (518 km2) in Rawalpindi. Vegetation showed an increment of 4.7% for Islamabad and 24.5% for Rawalpindi. Surface water bodies decreased in both study areas. Population growth showed a strong positive correlation with the built-up class and a strong negative correlation with the bare land class for both cities. The outcomes of this study may be helpful in policymaking for better planning and management of land use land cover and urban sprawl in the context of sustainable development goals.

Hydrological and ecological impacts of run off river scheme; a case study of Ghazi Barotha hydropower project on Indus River, Pakistan.

Run off river schemes are getting widespread importance as they are considered environmentally safe. However, number of studies and the consequent information regarding impacts of run off river schemes is very limited worldwide. Present study attempted to analyze impacts of Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Plant, which is a run off river scheme situated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. This study attempted to analyze impacts of this run off river scheme on hydrological and ecological conditions of downstream areas. Data on river discharge, groundwater levels, agriculture area, vegetation and bare soil was utilized for this study. All data sets between the year 1990 till 2020 were analyzed. Hydrological impacts were analyzed through secondary data analysis, whereas ecological impacts were studied through remote sensing technique. Statistical methods were applied to further draw conclusions between hydrological and ecological interrelationships. Results showed that after functioning of Ghazi Barotha, there was 47% and 91% reduction of river discharge, in summer and winter seasons respectively. Groundwater level dropped by 50%. Agriculture area reduced by 1.69% and 9.11% during summer and winter respectively, whereas land under bare soil increased. River water diversion was considered to be responsible for groundwater reduction, as strong correlation was found between both. Agriculture land recovery, in post Ghazi Barotha period, was premised at intense groundwater mining, as groundwater level and agriculture area were significantly related (p < 0.05). Governments' groundwater development schemes, and a shift into motorized groundwater mining were major factors behind further groundwater exploitation in study area. This study came to the conclusion that Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Plant had impacted flow regime of Indus River, as well as groundwater levels and land use of downstream area along the river. These effects were triggered by inappropriate compensatory measures and uncontrolled water resource exploitation.

Planning for Sustainable Green Urbanism: An Empirical Bottom-Up (Community-Led) Perspective on Green Infrastructure (GI) Indicators in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan.

Rising vulnerability of the urban green infrastructure (UGI) is grabbing global attention, for which inclusive urban landscape and greening policies (ULGP) and frameworks are crucial to support green growth. As such, this research intends to explore the local community's perspective to assemble sustainable UGI indicators for vital taxonomy of the urban green space (UGS) elements, aiming to develop a multi-functional and sustainable UGI-indicator-based framework that is eco-friendly and supports green-resilient cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, Pakistan. An in-depth household survey was executed in three KP districts: Charsadda, Peshawar, and Mardan, placing self-administered 192 questionnaires while covering themes around climate change adaptation, urban resilience, and UGI. Relative importance index (RII) and the interquartile range (IQR) methods were set up for data analysis that revealed excellent reliability (α > 0.88) and internal consistency. The results confirmed community-based UGI indicators with a focus on promoting green-energy-saving strategies as e-imp (level 9, RII = 0.915), while other (ten) UGI indicators as important (RII = 0.811-0.894) and (eleven) as moderately important (RII = 0.738-0.792). These UGI indicators were found to be enhanced by UGS elements (RII ≥ 0.70). These findings provide a foundation for urban policy change and the development of a sustainable UGI framework to build an eco-regional paradigm for greener growth.

Flood in mountainous communities of Pakistan: how does it shape the livelihood and economic status and government support?

The agriculture sector remains under attack by the consistent flooding events in Pakistan as flooding water is sweeping away crops and livelihood opportunities, thus dragging the already vulnerable communities into poverty. This research has studied the adverse impacts of consistent floods (2010 to 2018) on the rural mountainous agriculture, agrarian occupation, economic system, and rise in poverty in ten districts of Hazara and Malakand divisions, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. In total, 1000 self-administered questionnaires were deployed at the household level through judgment sampling studying the flood-affected households. Primary data for the impacts of floods on the livelihood, economic status, and poverty and correlation among them was estimated through three parallel logistic regression equations based on indexes for three separate models for the study variable to describe the flood-induced vulnerability at HH level. The results of the interrelationship of the selected variables declared Malakand division more prone to loss of livelihood, degradation of low-economic status, and increased in poverty due to flooding than Hazara division. It is concluded that floods have curtailed the agricultural livelihood on damaging crop production that has degraded locals' economic system by reducing household's income and savings, ending up in borrowing of money and leading to debt due to non-repayment. Households' vulnerability has increased due to increased poverty as being more exposed to natural disasters. It calls for government intervention to safeguard poor mountainous communities of Pakistan through financial help, seeds, livestock, and technical help in times of disaster.

Assessing the adverse effects of flooding for the livelihood of the poor and the level of external response: a case study of Hazara Division, Pakistan.

Flood is found to be a frequent phenomenon. Over the past few decades, Pakistan has been the home of climate-related disasters like floods. This paper attempts to examine the effect of floods on the rural communities; those are vulnerable to floods, and their livelihood patterns were damaged due to flooding events in Hazara Division. This research study assessed the causes, the impact, and the aftermath of flooding and their link with climate change in Hazara Division (Torghar, Kohistan, Mansehra, Abbottabad, and Haripur). The significance of environmental changes and flood's threats were discovered and examined through the logistic regressions and then pathway analysis. The findings showed that floods, directly and indirectly, affected the livelihood, social standing, and physical and economic status of rural communities. Rise in poverty level is also reported in already vulnerable communities that further increase their exposure to risks and hazards. This study calls for local government strengthening, early warning systems, and (non)financial assistance in times of needs to minimize the floods risk and disastrous impacts on localities and resources.