Geospatial Technologies for Resources Planning and Management

This book focuses on the application of geospatial technologies for resource planning and management for the key natural resources, e.g. water, agriculture and forest as well as the decision support system (DSS) for infrastructure development. We have seen in the past four decades that the growing complexities of sustainable management of natural resources management have been very challenging. The book has been written to leverage the current geospatial technologies that integrate the remotely sensed data available from various platforms, the precise locational data providing geospatial intelligence, and the advanced integration tools of Geographical Information Systems (GIS).

Geospatial technologies have been used for water resources management employing geomorphological characteristics, analysis of river migration pattern, understanding the large-scale hydrological process, wet land classification and monitoring, analysis of glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), assessmentof environmental flow and soil erosion studies, water quality modelling and assessment and rejuvenation of paleochannels through groundwater recharge.

Geospatial technologies have been applied for crop classification and mapping, soil moisture determination using  RISAT-1 C-band and PALSAR-2 L-band sensors, inventory of horticulture plantations, management of citrus orchards, crop yield forecasting, rice yield estimation, estimation of evapotranspiration and its evaluation against lysimeter and satellite-based evapotranspiration product for India to address the various issues of the agricultural system management.

Geospatial technologies have been employed for the generation and reconciliation of the notified forest land boundaries, and also the land cover changes analysis within notified forest areas, forest resource assessment, management and monitoring and wildlife conservation and management.

This book aims to present high-quality technical case studies representing the recent developments in the “application of geospatial technologies for resource planning and management”. The editors hope that this book will serve as a valuable resource for scientists and researchers to plan and manage land and water resources sustainably.

​Dr. Chandra Shekhar Jha has an M.Sc and Ph.D. (1990) degree from the famous Ecology School of BHU, Varanasi. Currently, he is an Outstanding Scientist and Chief General Manager, Regional Centres, National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad. He joined the then NRSA in 1990 and has been contributing significantly in Geospatial Technology and applications majorly for the sustainable management of forest and environmental resources, especially on advanced methodologies for ecological monitoring, development of national databases, carbon cycle research, and ecological modeling. Dr. Jha’s contributions for the National Assessment of Biodiversity Characterization at the Landscape level are significant. He also led the team for the Alert system development for National Forest Fire and annual Forest Loss.

 As a Coordinator of ISRO’s National Carbon Project (NCP), Dr. Jha leads a large team of research scientists addressing the various components of carbon and water cycle using multiple remote sensing sensors, a network of eddy covariance flux towers, and process models.

Currently, Dr. Jha focuses on Geospatial applications for rural development and spatial planning.  Dr. Jha has guided 10 Ph.D. theses under his supervision. He has also served large numbers of National Committees of Govt Of India Ministries. He is the recipient of several national and international awards and honours.

Prof. Ashish Pandey did his B. Tech. in Agricultural Engineering from JNKVV, Jabalpur and obtained M.Tech. in Soil and Water Engineering from JNKVV, Jabalpur. He received Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering from IIT Kharagpur. Prof. Pandey joined IIT Roorkee in 2007 and is presently working as Professor and Head at the Department of WRD&M, IIT Roorkee. His research interests include Irrigation Water Management, Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, Hydrological Modeling of Watershed, Remote Sensing and GIS Applications in Water Resources. He guided 10 Ph.D. and 85 M.Tech. students at IIT Roorkee. He published 184 research papers in peer-reviewed and high-impact international/national journals/seminars/conferences/ symposia. He has also co-authored a textbook on “Introductory Soil and Water Conservation Engineering”.

Prof. Pandey also served as Guest Editor for two issues of J.  Hydrologic Engineering (ASCE). He is Editor, Indian J. Soil Conservation.  His laurels include Eminent Engineers Award-2015 given by the Institute of Engineers (India), Uttarakhand State Centre, DAAD scholarship and ASPEE scholarship. He was offered the prestigious, JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship for Foreign Researchers, Japan, and BOYSCAST fellowship of DST, GOI. He is a Fellow member of (1). Institution of Engineers (India); (2). Indian Association of Hydrologists (IAH) and (3). Indian Water Resources Society (IWRS).

Dr. V.M.Chowdary did  B. Tech. (Agricultural Engineering) from A.P.Agricultural  University, Hyderabad and M.Tech from G.B.Pant University of Agriculture and Technology. He obtained Ph.D in the field of hydrological sciences from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India  and carried out JSPS Post-Doctoral research at Kyoto University, Japan. Currently, Dr. Chowdary is Director, MNCFC, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi. His research career for more than 2 decades in ISRO as a Scientist focuses on the application of state-of-the-art geospatial technologies for land and water resources management with an emphasis on agricultural water management, hydrological modeling, non-point source pollution studies, regional-scale water budgeting, Integrated watershed management, Soil erosion modeling, environmental monitoring, and GIS-based DSS with a multidisciplinary approach. He developed a unique geospatial modelling framework for assessing Non-PointSource Pollution of groundwater in large irrigation projects integrating the hydrology of soils, surface and ground water, and their flow hydraulics and pollutant transport. The various awards and recognitions testify to the significance of his consistently outstanding work.

Professor V.P. Singh is a Distinguished Professor, a Regents Professor, and Caroline and William N. Lehrer Distinguished Chair in Water Engineering at Texas A&M University. He received his B.S., M.S., Ph.D. and D.Sc. degrees in engineering. He is a registered professional engineer, a registered professional hydrologist, and an Honorary diplomate of ASCE-AAWRE. He has published extensively in the area of hydrology and water resources, including 30 textbooks; Handbook of Applied Hydrology; Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers; 71 edited books; 114 book chapters;  1270 refereed journal articles; 330 conference proceedings papers; 13 special edited journal Issues; 50 book reviews; and 72 technical publications and reports. For his seminal contributions he has received more than 92 national and international awards, as well as three honorary doctorates. He is a member of 11 international science/engineering academies. He has served as President of the American Institute of Hydrology (AIH), Chair of Watershed Council of American Society of Civil Engineers, Vice President of Indian Association of Hydrologists, Vice President of Association of Global Groundwater Scientists, and is currently President of American Academy of Water Resources Engineers. He has served/serves as editor-in-chief of three journals and two book series and serves on editorial boards of more than 25 journals and three book series.