Developing land cover change methodology by combining remote sensing observations and pastoralist understandings : a case study in southern Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: Pastoralists in India are experiencing increased difficulties to sustain their livelihood, which is partly due to deterioration and diminishment of the pastoral lands that they depend on. Remote sensing (RS) is a powerful tool for investigating large-scale land cover change dynamics; however, a more complete and socially aware analysis of land cover change can be produced when incorporating qualitative data into the analysis. Through a case study in southern India, this study used interviews, participatory mapping, and RS to investigate how qualitative GIS methodology could be developed by comparing quantitative and qualitative data in order to highlight differences and similarities between them. RS findings showed that open land, which is an important source of livestock feed, has decreased while agricultural land and built-up land have increased. This result corresponded quite well with the qualitative data although the pastoralists experienced the decrease in open land to be more extensive than RS results indicated. The geographical locations where loss of pastures had occurred according to the pastoralists did not correspond with the RS analysis possibly since the respondents referred to small but significant areas of change which were not observable on satellite imagery. This result illustrates the partiality of both methodologies and of knowledge in general and also points to the value of mixing methods within land cover research, a field which usually has a strong preference for exclusively quantitative methods.