Mapping Bioregions

Report

Bioregion mapping cover

Uncovering Pre-District Bioregions of India

Research Report
This monograph has, within the constraints of time and resources, identified severalBioregions and has also outlined the possibility of these ecoregions becoming the underpinning of developmental decisions for the group of present day districts which overlie such regions.

India is divided into 741 administrative districts presently. Planning and development statistics are gathered for districts and this database then constitutes the basis for further developmental activity. With a lineage of over 200 plus years and its constant mainstream usage the district spatial system has become entrenched in our mental space erasing the historically established regional spatial nomenclature. The historical nomenclature of regions was derived from a centuries long experience of observing the spread of homogenous natural characteristics over space. It is proposed to research geographical and other literature as well as maps to delineate the historical spatial regions on the present day map of India with a view to identify the constituent modern districts of these regions. Such an exercise can overlay the present district system on the historical ecological regions which exercise could then enable ecological regeneration of these regions through the instrument of their constituent modern districts.

The objectives are :

a)    Demarcating the historic spatial regions on a physical map of India in GIS format [using ArcGIS software]

b)    To describe the distinguishing natural characteristics of the one of the fairly large identified regions

c)     To overlay the present district boundaries on the pre-districts map to identify the modern districts constituting the old regions