Application of remote sensing and GIS for sustainable development

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Persistent identifier:: 856472832

Title:: Application of remote sensing and GIS for sustainable development

Sub title:: [Workshop on "Environmental Modelling Using RS & GIS for Sustainable Development" ... on 11th March 1999]

Scope:: 82 Seiten

Year of publication:: 1999

Place of publication:: Coventry

Publisher of the original:: RICS Books

Identifier (digital):: 856472832

Illustration:: Illustrationen, Diagramme, Karten

Language:: English

Usage licence:: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Publisher of the digital copy:: Technische Informationsbibliothek Hannover

Place of publication of the digital copy:: Hannover

Year of publication of the original:: 2016

Document type:: Monograph

Collection:: Earth sciences

Chapter

Title:: ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS AND MODELLING : ISSUES AND CHALLENGES. Harini Nagendra and Madhav Gadgil

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

8 ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS AND MODELLING : ISSUES AND CHALLENGES Harini Nagendra' and Madhav Gadgil 1 ’ 2 Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - 560012 2 .la\vaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. Jakkur P.O., Bangalore - 560064 ABSTRACT India is a country with rich biological resources, which are being depleted over time. Field measurements will not be sufficient to monitor changes in these resources over time, and must be complemented by other means of assessment, namely remote sensors. Linkages need to be established between extensive remotely sensed information derived at a broader scale and intensive, locally collected field data. Ecosystem mapping provides a means for this. Landscapes can be classified into different ecosystem types using remotely sensed data, and each type associated with specific environmental parameters (such as a certain set of species or levels of soil erosion) based on field studies. Preliminary investigations in the Western Ghats and west coast of India have demonstrated the feasibility of this methodology for assessing and monitoring Angiosperm species diversity. A similar methodology can be extended to monitoring other natural resources such as biomass and land and water quality. However, crucial details of the methodology to be defined are the scale at which this classification is to be carried out, the number of ecosystem types to be differentiated, the nature and extent of field information, and the extent of correlation between broad scale classification and detailed field information, for different situations. Taking all these aspects into consideration, and based on our earlier experience in using such a methodology for biodiversity assessment, a multi-scale programme of biological resource assessment and monitoring across the Western Ghats is proposed. BACKGROUND The structure, composition and distribution of natural resources on earth has never been static - there have always been changes in land and water quality, species composition, landscape structure and other natural resources. This is part of the nature of life itself — but human activities of various kinds have severely accelerated the rates of changes in these environmental parameters. This poses problems of several kinds, including purely economic difficulties, health hazards, and even less obvious issues like loss in functionality - for example, studies suggest that when biodiversity levels fail beiow certain minimum requirements, entire ecosystems may collapse. These and other factors make the slowing of rates of depletion of the earth’s natural resources critical. For this, we need to identify major forces driving these losses, and determine where these processes are most active and losses maximal. This information can be used to drive strategies for resource conservation. Several such studies have been carried out, but satisfactory answers still elude us. This is not for lack of effort, nor is it due to a lack of scientific capability. The problems associated with the distribution and decline of natural resources are extremely multifaceted and do not permit neat and simple studies. Even specifically for India, this task poses several important scientific and logistic challenges. Ours is a country of rich and varied ecosystems and habitats, harboring a virtual treasure house of natural resources. These are distributed over a vast 320 million ha of land and 200 million ha of exclusive economic zone in the sea. To inventory, monitor and conserve natural resources over such a large and varied area is an enormous task. REMOTE SENSING BASED NATURAL RESOURCE ASSESSMENT Remote sensing has a high potential capability for natural resource assessment, as it can provide information about the distribution and composition of several kinds of natural resources like water, soil, minerals, biomass and vegetation cover, over large areas at a glance. Ecologists in fact have investigated the potential of remote sensing for various studies, mainly for land use and land cover mapping (Roughgarden et ah, 1991; Turner et al., 1994). However, given the size of the country and the fact that the scale of variation in distribution of resources is often too small to be picked up by remote sensors at commercially available resolutions, it is not possible to completely census resources using only remotely sensed data. Supplementary data in the form of field observations are required. Data collected by remote sensors is extensive, and at relatively coarse resolutions. Field data, for example on water quality, soil erosion or species distributions, cannot be as extensive and must be sampled at various

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