Adequate Decentral Management for Environmental Monitoring
of Very Large Areas
Hans-Peter Bähr
Institute for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, University of Karlsruhe
Englerstrasse 7, D-7500 Karlsruhe 1, Germany
Email: bähr@ipf.bau-verm.uni-karlsruhe.de
Abstract
A project of technical cooperation between Argentina
and Germany investigates the severe desertification
process in Patagonia. In order to establish a both
effective and economical monitoring procedure, data
processing is concentrated in five different places,
based on LANDSAT imagery and GIS techniques.
To cover the large area of approx. 800 000 sqkm
completely, four transects from the ANDES to the
Atlantic had been defined and checked in detail with
interpolation using NOAA imagery.
Zusammenfassung
Ein Projekt der technischen Zusammenarbeit zwi-
schen Argentinien und Deutschland untersucht den
starken Desertifikationsproze in Patagonien. Um
ein zugleich effektives und wirtschaftliches Verfah-
ren durchzuführen, wird die Datenverarbeitung auf 5
verschiedene Stellen verteilt, wobei LANDSAT- Bilder
und GIS-Techniken angewandt werden. Vollstándig
erfaßt werden die ca. 800 000 qkm durch Interpolation
mit NOAA-Bildern zwischen 4 Transsekten von den
Anden zum Atlantik, für welche Detailinformationen
vorliegen.
1 Desertification - a World-
Wide Problem
„Desertification“ means the degradation of environ-
ment in terms of transformation from vegetation-
covered soil to conditions which are hostile to men
and inadequate for agriculture or animal production.
Society is growing aware of that problem since it
occurs in many regions of the earth and often
manifests in spectacular disasters which claimed
thousands of lives like in the Sahel or in Somalia.
Desertification being a fundamental problem for
mankind, the UN organized a conference in Nairobi
(UNCOD 1977) which was the starting point for many
national and international activities in that field.
150
Fig. 1 Desertification on Earth
Black: High risk
Grey: Lower risk
Sources: UNCOD 1977 and MENSCHING 1990
Fig. 1 gives an overview of the vast extent
of desertification. This must be seen on the
background of growing population rates and the many
efforts to expand food production. The components
„population“ and „food production“ are at present
one of the major social and technical challenges - and
will probably continue to be so.
Desertification occurs due to many different reasons
(see MENSCHING, 1990 for an excellent syste-
matization), depending both on human and natural
factors. The phenomenon may even start when only
one of these two factors is present. However, in
most cases it is the combination of both that results
in the process called „land degradation“. Remote
Sensing techniques represent a very effective means
for monitoring large areas. Consequently, it is a basic
tool for a binational project on desertification control
in Argentina/Patagonia.
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