The increasing availability of dual-polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) data has led to a significant rise in its applications over the past few decades. Model-based decompositions combined with polarimetric information extraction from PolSAR data play a crucial role in target identification and classification. In this context, the covariance matrix [C], composed of four independent parameters, was used as the input for dual-pol four-component scattering power decomposition (DP-4SD). A novel 4SD model was tested using dual polarimetric SAR data from the spaceborne ALOS-2/PALSAR-2, and its performance was evaluated against existing scattering power decomposition methods. The performance of the proposed 4SD model was assessed using dual-polarization data from the Haldwani Forest and San Francisco to evaluate its classification capabilities within a single class (forest) and across various land use and land cover classes in San Francisco. The overall classification accuracy achieved was 85.69% for the Haldwani forest and 93.66% for San Francisco, with fewer unclassified samples compared with the existing model. The 4SD model demonstrates superior classification accuracy and enhances the interpretation of polarimetric information, indicating its potential to significantly improve land-use and land-cover mapping using dual PolSAR data.