Rao, D.P. 
  
10. CONCLUSIONS 
Sustainable development aims at maintaining the balance between often 
conflicting ideals of economic growth and nurturing environmental quality and 
viability. Remote sensing provides a sound data base for generating baseline 
information on natural resources, a pre-requisite for planning and 
implementation , and monitoring of any developmental programme. GIS offers 
an ideal environment for integration of spatial and attribute data on natural 
resources for formulating the developmental plan of an area taking into account 
social, cultural and economic needs of the people. The digital elevation 
model(DEM) generated from the measurements made by Global Positioning 
System(GIS) through digital photogrammetric approach enable further refining 
the developmental plans.Creation of digital database on natural resources for 
Indian sub-continent under a national project titled “National(Natural) Resources 
Information System(NRIS)" is, in fact, a major step forward in this direction. The 
developmental plans, thus formulated, could be implemented through 
participatory Rural Appraisal(PRA) programme. 
Despite tremendous development in sensor technology, data processing and 
analysis/interpretation techniques, certain specific inputs such as, development 
of GIS-based land evaluation models for land capability, land irrigability, 
suitability of land for a specific usage, development of cadastral - level action 
plan, risk analysis in the event of certain assumptions are not satisfied, objective 
impact assessment using space technology, development of ecological models to 
project future developmental scenario, etc. could not be addressed. 
Hyperspectral data from MODIS aboard EOS mission, high spatial resolution data 
from recently launched IKONOS-II and future earth observation missions, namely 
Cartosat-1, Resourcesat, Cartosat-2, Quickbird, Eyeglass, EROS-A and B, and 
Orbview, etc. may enable generating cadastral-level optimal land use plan or 
action plan for sustainable development of land and water resources. Such a 
database would also enable objective monitoring of the developments resulting 
from implementation of the action plan. 
REFERENCES 
All India Soil and Land Use Survey 1991, Methodology of priority delineation survey, 
Technical Bulletin No.9, All India Soil and Land Use Survey, Ministry of Agriculture, 
Government of India, New Delhi. 
All India Soil and Land Use Survey 1970, Soil Survey Manual Publishers: All India Soil and 
Land Use Survey. Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi. 
All India Soil and Land Use Survey, 1990, Watershed Atlas of India, Publishers: All India Soil 
and Land Use Survey. Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi. 
  
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International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part B7. Amsterdam 2000.