from incomplete or inconsistent maps and environmental data.
Several studies have been executed by the United Nations
which proof that rural areas have been mapped in smaller scales
only and have not been updated for many years (e.g.
Brandenberger 1987). The same applies for environmental data
and GIS data bases. Only if we develop methods and
operational approaches to monitor the rural environment, which
means also the agricultural land use, we will gain spatial
information to improve sustainable land management and food
security.
Related approaches have been earmarked by the World Bank,
from the German Agency for International Cooperation and
even the Millennium Challenge Corporation for many years,
but without really turning around the situation of rural areas
around the world (cf. Falloux 1989). Therefore the article
describes a demand driven approach using remote sensing
within a processing chain as technology which can be managed
in the hands of agronomic experts with local knowledge.
2. SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT
AND FOOD SECURITY
2.1 Reciprocity between Food Security, Land Management
and Climate
The importance of the issues on food security and land man-
agement becomes obvious when looking at the following fig-
ures:
* Currently more than 1 billion people on earth are affected
by hunger and more than 30 countries are experiencing
food emergencies (cf. FAO 2009).
= Global population passed the 7 billion milestone in 2011
and will reach 10 billion by 2050. (cf. Crossette 2011)
= 40 6 of all internal conflicts over the last 60 years have had
a link to natural resources (cf. UNEP 2011)
= Biofuel production has increased sharply in the past few
years (cf. Flammini 2008; Godvina 2010).
These alarming figures underline the overall significance of a
responsible use of natural resources, which demands a monitor-
ing of the current developments, and the research for improved
methodological tools to be integrated into operational applica-
tions. Although the mapping or monitoring of complex agro
ecological aspects by highly specialist remote sensing experts is
done far away from the target areas, this innovative approach
focuses on bringing adapted but easy to handle processing tools
to the local experts.
2.2 Operational Remote Sensing Services to Agriculture
and Land Tenure
The impacts of climate change, disasters and conflicts, soil and
land degradation versus the increasing demand on food and en-
ergy production and the increasing global population span an
area of conflict targeting land as prime ecosystem resource.
Questions such as:
= How many people can be sustained on earth?
= Which land resources are threatened through climate
change?
= What kind of land use change will be caused through an
increasing production of biofuels?
= What potentials can an increased agricultural production
provide in order to reduce the conflict between land
degradation and land loss and the increasing pressure on the
remaining land resources?
International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XXXIX-B8, 2012
XXII ISPRS Congress, 25 August — 01 September 2012, Melbourne, Australia
are discussed diversely. Tools to measure, describe, and assess
sources and impacts of these land use conflicts request enor-
mous efforts, but given the complexity, they are still not suffi-
cient to provide answers. Although these conflicts have a global
dimension their sources and solutions are at a regional or local
level. Solutions by means of land resource management sys-
tems need to involve the regional and local stakeholders’ net-
works. As such, geospatial information derived from satellite
earth observation can contribute to implement structures for
sustainable land management systems.
GMFS and SASCHA services are designed to contribute to this.
Based on the highly innovative developments at the latest status
of research and technologies, stakeholders of various thematic
domains can get access to geospatial technologies but without
the need to be experts in remote sensing or GIS. The processing
tools are designed for experts and operators skilled in the fields
of agricultural statistics or nature conservation who are non
remote sensing experts. Either through very robust and clear
processing steps (see indicative fAPAR maps processing
below) or through advanced software developments which are
systematically integrated into platforms, providing instruments
with easy to use interfaces, but having access to advanced
optical and radar remote sensing processing routines in the
background. Specifically the software tools such as ALIS ©
(see CuA processing and SASCHA application below) will
facilitate knowhow and technology transfer and increase the
availability and access for up to date remote sensing
methodologies to non remote sensing experts, but also
contribute to multi-scale geo information systems.
Through the RCMRD as GMFS’s regional coordinator, a
sustainable and operational structure is available which is
mandated to support the training, access and transfer to the
different national and local users. Further to this, the Federal
Ministry of Agriculture in Sudan and the Ministry of
Agriculture and Food Security in Malawi are involved as direct
GMES beneficiaries at national level. In this respect the GMFS
Agricultural Monitoring services are well designed for a
successful, very useful and sustainable user driven technology
transfer.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture (FMoA) in Sudan
requested GMFS to investigate EO contributions to the
agricultural monitoring in particular the assessment of
traditional rain fed areas. It is understood that monitoring and
statistics frameworks in this sector are a difficult issue, since
the infrastructure in the traditional rain fed areas is low, the
areas are huge, and the large seasonal variations have an impact
on the distribution and location of cultivated area. Due to this,
adequate sampling schemes are required each year and inter
annual comparisons are important. In this respect GMFS was
requested by the FMoA and consulted by the GMFS Steering
committee to step in via an enhanced integration of Remote
Sensing at two different scales into the agricultural monitoring
framework.
The first required products are cultivated area maps at a scale of
1:50.000, based on recently acquired HR optical and SAR data
to support the Sudanese user institutions in monitoring
agriculture production in Sudan.
The second requirement is to generate an indicative map of
vegetation growth activities as early as possible, at a scale of
1:1000.000 based on Medium Resolution MERIS imagery
before the harvest in Sudan in order to create information to
better coordinate the given resources for field survey and
interviewing campaigns.
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