Land Degradation Due to Jamuna Riverbank Erosion: A Case Study at Shahjadpur, Sirajganj District, Bangladesh

Abstract

Climate Change in Bangladesh is an extremely crucial issue. Bangladesh is one of the worstly affected countries by the impacts of Climate Change in coming decades. The climate change in Bangladesh causes the degradation of land resources. High intensity and recurrence of floods are due to irregular rainfall and glacier melting of the Himalayas intensified river bank erosion throughout the year. High yielding land resources on the river bank are degraded each year. This study was conducted for riverbank shifting detection, morphodynamics assessment, and estimation of eroded and accreted land by the Jamuna river at Shahjadpurupazila, Sirajganj district, Bangladesh. The investigation is based on multispectral satellite imagery interpretations using ArcGIS software, followed by a field check. Interpretations show that the Jamuna river in the study area has continuously shifted its path from east to west from 1956 to 2020, resulting in a total loss of 51.68 km2 of landmass. The rate of engulfment was 0.95km2/year whereas the accretion rate was 0.15km2/year. The maximum rate of river shifting on the right bank of Jamuna river in the ShahjadpurUpazila is 84.38 meters/year and the minimum shifting is 31.25 meters/year. This study will help to understand the scenario of land degradation by river erosion in the study area. It may be also helpful to the decision-makers to take the proper mitigation measures regarding riverbank erosion and protection.