District of Nepal · Lumbini Province
Banke District: land cover, map and municipalities
Forest land is the largest land cover in Banke District, at 62.4% of its area. Forest covers 62.4% (more than the national 41.4%), farmland 30.7%, rangeland 3.8%, built-up land 2.9%, bare land, rock and snow 0.0% and water 0.2%.
Land cover of Banke District
Show the numbers
| Class | Share (%) | 95% interval | Area (km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urban land | 2.9 | 0.0–8.1 | 55 |
| Agriculture land | 30.7 | 5.3–56.1 | 577 |
| Rangeland | 3.8 | 0.6–7.1 | 72 |
| Forest land | 62.4 | 34.6–90.2 | 1,174 |
| Water | 0.2 | 0.0–0.5 | 3 |
| Barren land | 0.0 | 0.0–0.0 | 0 |
Latest high-resolution imagery (captured 2011–2026, median 2025-11). Estimated from 13 randomly placed 1.2 km sample windows classified by the Nepal-adapted U-Net; intervals are 95% confidence. How it works.
Banke District year by year
Largest changes in the reference map from 2017 to 2025: urban land +4.0 points, rangeland −3.1 points, agriculture land −1.7 points.
Coloured lines: the U-Net on each year's Sentinel-2 cloudless mosaic, with 95% intervals. Grey: the independent 10 m Impact Observatory map at the same sites. Differences of a few points between years can come from how each year's mosaic was processed, and the 2016 and 2018 mosaics are read less reliably (too little built-up land, too much bare land and water); compare from 2019 on.
Municipalities and rural municipalities of Banke District
| Local unit | Area (km²) | Forest % | Farmland % | Built-up % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baijanath | 142 | 33.7 | 49.6 | 13.2 |
| Duduwa | 91 | 20.0 | 65.1 | 8.6 |
| Janaki | 63 | 2.8 | 81.0 | 14.3 |
| Khajura | 102 | 6.3 | 78.5 | 12.6 |
| Kohalpur | 184 | 64.6 | 18.8 | 13.8 |
| Narainapur | 172 | 56.8 | 31.6 | 3.5 |
| Nepalganj | 86 | 2.9 | 65.9 | 30.7 |
| Rapti Sonari | 1,041 | 82.0 | 7.7 | 1.5 |
Local-unit land cover is from the 10 m Impact Observatory map (2025), clipped to each boundary.
Fires in Banke District each year
Satellite fire detections (NASA FIRMS, VIIRS S-NPP) inside Banke District: about 1,431 a year on average, most in 2016 (2,781).
Questions about Banke District
- What is the forest cover of Banke District?
- About 62.4% of Banke District is forest (95% interval 34.6–90.2%), roughly 1,174 km², according to the Nepal-adapted U-Net applied to 13 sample sites. That ranks 21st of 77 districts.
- How much of Banke District is built-up or urban?
- Built-up land covers about 2.9% (55.3 km²). Banke District ranks 30th of 77 districts for built-up share.
- How big is Banke District?
- Banke District covers 1,881 km² and has 8 local units (municipalities and rural municipalities).
Source: Nepal-adapted U-Net (Khadka & Pradhan 2026) on Esri and EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless imagery; Impact Observatory/Esri 10 m land cover; boundaries: Survey Department of Nepal via OCHA.