Investigating the use of ecological corridors to mitigate the impact of urbanization on forests: a case of Nagpur metropolitan area

Abstract

Urbanization can be defined as a process of population aggregation within cities that results in sequential economic and social changes. Human activities has changed the land cover that have severe environmental effects on natural ecosystem. To maintain the environmental health of city as well as natural conditions of the urban ecological context, the presence of green spaces in the cities are necessary. In the late 20th century, the rapid growth of urban areas and human populations started and would continue in the coming decades, with a rise of about 70% in urban areas by 2036, and natural environments are becoming less available to increasingly urbanised societies. As natural environments have been found to improve city environment and wellbeing of people, such decline inaccessibility would have negative effects on city dwellers' quality of life by, for example, a lack of recreational space. Due to the urbanisation development pressure is there which demands the construction of linear infrastructure. It act as an important driver of urban green spaces fragmentation, it is the process of breaking up continuous habitats and thereby causing habitat loss, patch isolation and edge effects (Jan Bogaert), resulting in the loss of habitat and biodiversity and the destruction of essential ecosystem processes. the biotic and abiotic factors also get affect by rapid development as we can consider that built environment are the abiotic factor and natural environment as a biotic factor such as human, wildlife and plants etc. we can observe that due to urbanisation this factors are affecting. To create a better built environment the rapid infrastructure development are happening which leads to harming the both the environment and it is facing problems such as increase in temperature, urban disasters, air quality loss. New infrastructure are the part of process to create a good built environment. The built environment term is used when we are referring the surrounding created for humans by humans and to be used for human activities. A built environment is developed in order to satisfy residents' requirements. The built environment encompasses places and spaces created or modified by people including buildings, parks, and transportation systems. Whereas the urban natural environment includes both living and non-living things that arise naturally in urban areas. The interaction of all living organisms, atmosphere, weather and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity includes this area. In contrast to the natural environment is the built environment. Urban built environment consist of road networks, parks, agricultural land, different types of land use such as residential and recreational etc. urban natural environment consist of lake, rivers, forest etc. The urban ecological corridors can help to mitigate the problems due to urbanization as it consist of linear as well as Corridors create a permanent connection between green areas. The green areas and connecting corridors are surrounded by buffer zones which serve as a protection from possible disruptive external influences. Beyond the core areas and connecting corridors lies another area with land selected or sustainable use with preservation of several ecosystem functions. Corridors help maintain or recover a certain degree of cohesion in otherwise fragmented ecosystems. Through the connection of fragmented habitats, the viability of animal and plant species is improved by: enlarging habitats, for example to improve the search for food, dispersion of young animals, Re-use of "empty" habitats. Because of Climate change, the borders of suitable habitats are continuously changing. Because of that, it's important for many species to be able to migrate over great distances. Mainly non-migrating species, depending on a specific food supply, are vulnerable to fragmentation of their habitat. Additionally, species depending on vast habitats, such as large mammals, are vulnerable. A viable population of these species cannot be provided for in small-scale habitats. Mainly forest animals and plants are threatened in their existence as a result of fragmentation. Nagpur is the winter capital of the state of Maharashtra, a fast growing metropolis and third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune. With a population of 46, 53,570 (2011) Nagpur Metropolitan Area is the 13th largest urban conglomeration in India. It has also recently been ranked as the cleanest city and the second greenest city of India but most of the green areas are isolated patches. In addition to being the seat of annual winter session of Maharashtra state assembly “Vidhan Sabha”, Nagpur is also a major commercial and political centre of the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, and is also famous throughout the country as “Orange City” for being a major trade centre of oranges that are cultivated in the region. In addition, 52% of the total district population resides within Nagpur Municipal Corporation. In the past, Nagpur attracted the migration and floating population from the neighbouring districts of Maharashtra for education, employment, and business. However, the trend has decreased over the last decade. It has been observed that old part of Nagpur lies in west and new developed part is in east side this settlement has been influenced through linear infrastructure- railway. Nagpur is bestowed with urban forests like Ambazari (756ha), Seminary Hills (76ha) and Gorewada (1914ha). All these forest areas are the lungs of the city and have different floral and faunal biodiversity and these urban forest lies in the east part of the city. The problems faced by the Nagpur are lack of green spaces Only 8% of the space covered with green vegetation, which can be accessed by citizens for leisure and as a community space and for social purposes. Due to the influence of new construction the city has been facing the problems such as Increase population, High temperature- MAX temperature 50 degree Celsius, Urban heat island effect In Nagpur Noise and air pollution. The study will focus on the impact of urbanization on urban forest and its ecology it also consider the social and environmental perspective to resolve a problem.