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IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, “Resource and Environmental Monitoring”, Hyderabad, India, 2002 
SPACE TECHN OLOGY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF DEGRADED LANDS 
R. S. Dwivedi, Sreenivas Kandrika and K. V. Ramana 
National Remote Sensing Agency 
(Department of Space, Government of India) 
Balanagar, HYDERABAD - 500 037, India 
dwivedi_rs@nrsa.gov.in, s_kandrika@ yahoo.com, rvk_nrsa@sifi.com 
Commission VII, WG VII/3 
KEYWORDS: Waterlogging, Mining, Aquaculture, GIS, Remote Sensing 
ABSTRACT: 
Globally, an estimated 1964.4 million ha of land are subject to some kind of degradation. In order to restore the fertility of degraded 
lands on a sustained basis, and to prevent the deterioration of fertile land, information on their nature, extent, magnitude, spatial 
distribution and temporal behaviour is a pre-requisite. Realizing the potential of remote sensing technology, the National Remote Sensing 
Agency, since its inception in 1974, has been using spaceborne multispectral data operationally for generating information on natural 
resources and environment variables including degraded lands. The article portrays the potential of remote sensing and GIS though three 
case studies addressing waterlogging, mining and aquaculture. The information, thus generated, could be used for sustainable 
development of degraded lands. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Land degradation is an active global process operating at various 
scales and is accelerated due to over-exploitation and 
indiscriminate use of natural resources. Globally, 1964.4 million 
ha of land are affected by human-induced degradation (UNEP, 
1993). Of this, 1,093.7 million ha are subject to soil erosion by 
water, 548.3million ha to wind erosion, 239.1 million ha to 
chemical deterioration, and the rest to other processes like 
compaction, waterlogging, soil salinization, mining, conversion of 
agricultural land into aquaculture, etc. An estimated 3,600 million 
ha of land comprising of hilly regions of the humid tropics of 
India, Manchuria, Korea, south-west China and Africa are under 
shifting cultivation (Schlippe, 1956 and Concklin, 1957). 
In India alone, out of a geographical area of 329 million ha, 150 
million ha of land are affected by wind and water erosion 
(Anonymous, 1976). Annually, an estimated 6000 million tonnes 
of soil is lost through soil erosion by water (Das, 1985). Apart 
from this, shifting cultivation, waterlogging, and salinization and / 
or alkalization have affected an estimated 4.36 million ha, 6.0 
million ha and 7.16 million ha of land, respectively (Anonymous, 
1976). Degradation of forest land by way of deforestation and 
forest fires, mining and aquaculture could lead to very serious 
environmental hazards. The article focuses on the role of remote 
sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) in the 
inventory of degraded lands with three case studies - one each on 
waterlogging, mining and aquaculture. 
2. ROLE OF REMOTE SENSING 
Remote sensing by virtue of providing synoptic view at regular 
intervals has been proved to be a cost-effective and efficient tool 
in the delineation and mapping the spatial distribution of lands 
affected by various degradational processes. The developments in 
731 
the assessment of degraded lands that ensued following the launch 
of Landsat-1, could be broadly grouped into three categories viz. 
detection and delineation of individual degraded lands, 
monitoring their spatial extent and modelling. Initially, during the 
period from 1975 to 1981, the Landsat - MSS data with 80m 
spatial resolution had been used for generating macro-level 
information on degraded lands through a systematic visual 
interpretation and/ or computer-assisted digital analysis approach. 
With the availability of Landsat TM data with 30 m spatial 
resolution and of SPOT MLA data with 20m and PAN with 10m 
spatial resolution during the period 1982 to 1988, meso-level 
information on degraded lands could be generated. In fact, during 
this period, a nation-wide project titled "Mapping saline/alkali 
soils of India” through a systematic visual interpretation of 
Landsat TM false colour composite (FCC) images at 1:250,000 
scale was taken up. Concurrently, pilot studies were also 
conducted to study the temporal behaviour of salt-affected soils 
using multi-temporal satellite data marking the second phase of 
development the technology. The following sections, through case 
studies, portray the potential of remote sensing in deriving 
information on lands affected by waterlogging, mining and 
aquaculture. 
2.1. Detection of Waterlogging due to Rising Ground Water 
Table 
The spectral measurements made in the visible through near-IR 
and shortwave infrared (SWIR) have demonstrated the potential 
of deriving information on waterlogging in terms of surface 
ponding, a thin film of water on the surface and surface wetness 
(Kalubarme et al, 1981; Wallace et al, 1993; National Remote 
Sensing Agency, 1995, 1997). Though such measurements 
provided the information that is very crucial for taking up 
appropriate preventive and curative measures, the issue of 
waterlogging due to rising ground water table, being a sub-surface