REMOTE SENSING AND GIS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT : AN OVERVIEW 
D.P.Rao 
Director 
National Remote Sensing Agency 
(Department of Space, Govt. of India) 
Balanagar, Hyderabad - 500 037 
(INDIA) 
e-mail: director@nrsa.gov.in 
dprao@hd1.vsnl.net.in 
KEY WORDS: Sustainable development, sustainability, sustainability indicators, remote sensing, GIS, 
Integrated Mission for Sustainable Development 
ABSTRACT 
Sustainable development of natural resources calls for utilization of available land and water resources 
based on their potential and limitations while maintaining a good harmony with the environment. It could be 
achieved through generating information on natural resources and integrating it with the social, cultural and 
economic needs of the people to arrive at action plans identifying specific interventions on watershed basis 
using contemporary technology in consultation with the integrated assessment of natural resources in 
consultation with the specialists not only in agriculture, horticulture, water resources, land use, forestry, and 
soil conservation but also in social sciences. Remote sensing provides the basic data to generate baseline 
information on natural resources, and the temporal information to monitor the sustainable land and water 
resources management practices. The article provides an overview of different aspects of sustainable 
development including the role of remote sensing and our experience with a major national project 
employing its conceptual framework. While executing this project, we have developed a package for arriving 
at locale-specific prescription for sustainable development by integrating the information on natural 
  
resources derived from remote sensing data, and ancillary information in a GIS environment. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Over exploitation of available natural resources for 
meeting the ever increasing demand for food, fuel 
and fiber has led to serious environmental 
degradation. Globally, an estimated 1,965 million 
ha of land are subject to some kind of degradation. 
Of this, 1,094 million ha of land are subject to soil 
erosion by water and 549 million ha of land to soil 
erosion by wind (UNEP/ISRIC,1991). In addition, 
an estimated 954.8 million ha of land are affected 
by salinity and sodicity or both (Szabolcs, 1992) 
and another 3,600 million ha of global area 
comprising of hilly regions of the humid tropics of 
India , Manchurea, Korea, south-west China and 
Africa are under shifting cultivation (Schlippe, 1956; 
Conklin, 1957). In India alone, out of 328 million ha 
geographical area, 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 / alkalinization 
have affected an estimated 4.36 million ha, 6 million 
ha and 7.16 million ha of land, respectively 
(Anonymous, 1976). Frequent floods and drought 
further compound the problem. 
Degradation of land by way of deforestation for 
timber and fuel wood, shifting cultivation and 
occasionally forest fire is a very serious 
environmental problem. Besides, another equally 
important aspect of the sustainability of vegetation 
is the bio-diversity that need to be preserved. 
Water resources both surface as well as ground 
water are very crucial for sustaining flora and fauna. 
Over exploitation of ground water and wastage of 
precipitation water as run-off are the major issues 
which are to be addressed in the context of 
sustainable development. In addition, pollution of 
water by mining waste, solid wastes and sewage 
need to be checked. Anthropogenic activities along 
the coast may further deteriorate the delicate 
coastal ecosystem. In the event of major climatic 
change, coastal areas are going to be affected 
more. In addition, exploitation of marine resources 
especially off-shore oil drilling and ocean water 
pollution due to effluents from industries, solid 
wastes and oil-spilled over from ships may affect 
the ocean environment. 
156 Intemational Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXII, Part 7, Budapest, 1998