International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B7. Istanbul 2004
energy efficient and environmentally benign systems. The
Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) defined
sustainable development as the management and
conservation of natural resources base and the orientation
of technological and institutional changes in such a
manner as to ensure the attainment and continued
satisfaction of human needs for present and future
generations. Such sustainable development conserves
land, water, plant and animal genetic resources and is
less risky, environmentally non-degrading, technically
appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable.
Sustainable development requires a simultaneous
progress in three dimensions: the environmental
dimension, the economic dimension and the social
dimension. That is, it must improve economic efficiency,
protect and restore ecological systems, and enhance the
well-being of all peoples. There is an often-quoted fourth
dimension, the technological dimension. It will also need
new technologies that are more efficient and have fewer
adverse impacts on the environment. There are close
linkages and interactions between these dimensions. For
example, if economic growth is to be sustainable it cannot
ignore the environmental effects of that growth and it
cannot succeed without development of human
resources.
The Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro in 1992 (UNCED
1992) defined principles on which the pathway to
sustainable development can be based. It states that the
only way to have long term economic progress is to link it
with environmental protection. Caring for natural
resources and making sustainable use of resources is
essential for well-being of not only this generation but
future generations. Land resources provide the basis for
food, fuel, fiber and shelter for human populations
worldwide. Expanding human requirements and economic
activities are placing ever increasing pressures on land
resources, creating competition and conflicts and resulting
in suboptimal use of both land and land resources.
Anthropogenic pressures on agro-ecosystems and marine
resources are also well known. Integrated planning and
management of land resources is required for sustainable
use and development of natural resources (Agenda 21,
Chapter 10). Modern technologies such as biotechnology,
remote sensing, GIS, and computing capabilities can be
effectively used to improve efficiency of land resource
utilization, assess the condition of resources, and model
their outputs spatially and to monitor them.
Besides planning and management, there is a need to
develop indicators of sustainability for land resources. The
success of development cannot be measured by
economic indicators alone. These need to be measured
taking into account the effect of development of
environment. The cost of environmental degradation
should also be assessed to measure the progress in
direction of sustainability. Sustainability indicators should
take into account social, environmental, economic,
political demographic and cultural factors. It may not be
possible to derive sustainability indicators using only
remote sensing data. However, it shall be helpful for
generating environmental indicators that can be integrated
with social and economic indicators using other data.
Various studies have shown the potential of remote
sensing in this direction.
Major ecosystems and their
characteristics
Solutions to the problem of sustainable development can
be multi-pronged and from different perspectives.
Ecosystem approach is perhaps the best. Some of the
important ecosystems that need consideration are agro,
coastal, forest, freshwater and grasslands among others.
Globally, agro ecosystems are characterized by
permanent pastures (account for about 69% of the
ecosystem area) and cropland (around 31%).
Sustainability of agriculture is often a function of its ability
to feed the dependent population. It is possible through
any combination of the three, viz. increase the area under
crops, the cropping intensity, and its productivity. Aspects
such as conservation of plant and animal bio-diversity,
equitable access to the means of production, market
information, consumer demands, and a suitable policy
environment are equally important and form an integrated
part of the approach. Forests are dynamic; their size and
composition have evolved with changing climate. The
magnitude and implications of deforestation are well-
chronicled and widely debated all over the globe in many
a forum. The underlying causes of forest loss have also
been focus of many studies. From the sustainability of
forest ecosystem viewpoint - timber production and
consumption; fodder and fuel-wood production and
consumption, watershed conservation, biodiversity and
carbon sequestration take high priority. From the
conservation and management perspective, on going
fragmentation of forest stands, recurrence of forest fires
and assessment of forest productivity and responses to
climate change also pose severe challenges.
Grasslands can be described as areas (spread all over
the globe, 4096 of land surface area) dominated by grassy
vegetation and characterized by grazing, and drought or
freezing temperatures. They are home to about 17% of
world population or 9.38 M people dwelling primarily in
arid, semi-arid and sub-humid zones. These zones are
predominantly dry and are susceptible to damage from
human management and slower to recover from
degradation such as overgrazing or improper cultivation
practices (White et al. 2000). Across the continents
grassland ecosystems are threatened to different degrees
because of human intervention in various forms. To
conserve and sustain these ecosystems, efforts are
required to focus on the dependent food production
systems adopted by the flora, fauna including mankind, its
biological richness, degradation patterns in space and
time etc.
Coastal ecosystem can be described as "inter-tidal and
sub-tidal areas above continental shelf (to a depth of 200
m) and adjacent land area up to 100 km inland from the
coast". Sustainability of coastal ecosystem is dependent
on its food production system, water quality, biodiversity,
changes in the shoreline physiography, besides exposure
to the vicissitudes of human intervention like tourism,
construction, rapid industrial development and resources
exploitation along the coast etc. The coastal ecosystems
are the habitat for the largest part of the human
population. The main challenge for both mankind and
nature itself lies in staving off the different pressures on
the coastal system like the population pressure,
increasing pollution levels, over-harvesting of fish stocks
(coupled with trawling, by-catch), global climate change
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