Long-term monitoring of cropland transformation in Kolkata Metropolitan Area, India using open-source geospatial technologies

Urban Farm DB summary

A study of the Kolkata Metropolitan Area, India, used free and open-source geospatial software and multi-temporal databases to assess land use/land cover change from 1990 to 2020, focusing on the transformation of urban and peri-urban agricultural land, and projected cropland change to 2030 using an artificial neural network module (MOLUSCE). Built-up areas persistently expanded into croplands, wetlands, vegetation, and water bodies throughout the period, with an estimated loss of 181.11 sq km of cropland between 1990 and 2020, concentrated in the northern, eastern, and south-eastern parts of the study area. The 2030 projection indicates a further loss of 15.46 sq km, bringing the cumulative cropland loss to 37.39% of its 1990 extent under current socio-economic and administrative conditions.