Landscape level planning towards developing a decision support system for sustainable management and eco-restoration of protected areas (PAs)
Md. Abu Syed from the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies presented about the importance of landscape level planning for natural resource management and sustainable development. He thoroughly explained procedure of the landscape planning through conservation analysis and need to consider issues encountered in conservation areas during the planning. He gave an example of Teknaf landscape in Bangladesh that the Center has developed and presented sustainable landscape management recommendations prepared for Teknaf by using geo-spatial mapping. The centre has used the geo-spatial mapping for developing sustainable eco-restoration of protected areas by considering climate change and land use/land cover monitoring scenarios in Bangladesh. He concluded his presentation by highlighting the importance of Decision Support System (DSS) in management of ecosystem and protected areas; and need to make the make DSS applicable at landscape level.
The participants recommended to exchange the generated data from the Centre with the Department of Forest in Bangladesh and suggested to apply the model of Teknaf as widely as possible.
Decision Support toolbox for protected area ecosystem management
Mr. Sudip Pradhan from ICIMOD presented about the Decision Support Toolbox (DST) software developed by the Centre to support the institutional capacity for systematic planning and management of protected areas (PAs) in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya (HKH) region. He explained about the system dynamics approach being used by DST that simulates and quantifies the behavior of system over time to understand the interrelationships between elements within a system. The software was applied in the Sagarmatha National Park and Buffer Zone of Nepal by developing system dynamic models to address management problems of the park such as solid waste management or mass tourism. He thoroughly explained a tourism model developed by ICIMOD for the Sagarmatha National Park and its applicability for the management of the park.
The presentation was concluded by explanation on use of DST which provides tools to integrate spatial component into system dynamics modeling, whose user-friendly interface allows users with little or no knowledge about system dynamics modeling to run the models and generate scenarios which they can ultimately use in their decision making process, and which provides a framework that can be applied in any given protected area.
ARANYA: A comprehensive spatial decision support system for forest management
Mr. Manish P Kale from the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, India presented about the Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) Developed for Aranya (forest) and the approach used in developing the system. The approach included the use of GIS database, Python and other software. The SDSS was developed for the Department of Forest, Assam with several functions. He showed how to use those functions like planning of forest village relocation, habitat suitability analysis, vegetation carbon calculation etc. Such SDSS facilitates decision making based on specific GIS analysis, helps in land allocation planning and makes the administrative system accountable and transparent.
Pakistan wetlands inventory data portal – an integrated GIS tool for the wetlands knowledge and management
Mr. Faisal Mueen Qamer from WWF Pakistan presented about the Pakistan Wetlands GIS programme and data portal developed for sharing information on wetlands of Pakistan. He explained the data model used in the portal and standardised data used which is open sourced based Web-GIS architecture. He also showed how to use the interactive data portal to extract the required information of the wetlands of Pakistan. The climatic data and species sighting are publicly available on the portal. A special data query builder is available for exploring specific questions on wetland biodiversity. The portal is a good knowledgebase on wetlands of Pakistan and associated biodiversity. He concluded his talk by sharing how the developed system has enhanced the planning and management capacity for wetlands conservation by introducing GIS based decision support tool.
Indian Forest Fire Response and Assessment System (INFFRAS)
Mr. G. Rajasekhar from the National Remote Sensing Centre, India explained about the Indian Forest Fire Response and Assessment System (INFFRAS). He briefly talked about the Aqua Modis Processing used in the Forest Fire Decision Support System and use of those modis data to prepare a forest fire information sheet. Maps are being produced by using information produced from the daily forest fire alerts and further used for preparing burnt area assessment report. He explained how those reports with detailed information on fire likely occurrence area, are being used by forest managers. The forest fire watch tower visibility analysis was further explained. He concluded his presentation by explaining the eestablishment of Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) at NRSC, Hyderabad, for totally automated generation and dissemination of fire and burnt area products.
Climate change impact and mountain farmers adaptive strategies: Need for integrating farmers innovations into mountain agro-ecosystems management DSS
Mr. Tej Partap from the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology, India focused his presentation on climate change impact on mountain agro-ecosystems and explained a case study. Besides explaining the methodology and study area, he shared the study findings on ‘Mountain farmers as climate change observers and mitigation strategists’ with the audience. The mountain farmers noticed climate change indicators and were aware of climate change process. He shared how the change forced the farmers to replace their traditional cropping patterns and crops in the mountains with new systems and crops. Climate change is not always negative as the replacement with new cropping pattern was success and farmer’s economy was enhanced. However, farmer’s success in replacing crops depends on level of access to institutional support services and marketing opportunities for their new produce.
He ended his presentation by focusing on importance of spatial information for designing DSS and its use in policy making and development planning.
Development of a National Flood Monitoring System (NFMS) based on remote sensing techniques
Mr. Zahedul Islam from the SPARRSO Bangladesh explained about the National Flood Monitoring System (NFMS). He particularly focused on the designing of NFMS, research for development and its operation. NFMS has been designed based on grading system with different themes like flood area, population, damage and early warning. Its research is focused on generation of perennial flood water digital data layer of Bangladesh using optical and micro-wave remote sensing datasets. It has been focusing to develop GIS based methodology for estimation of the population affected by flood and its impact on crop damage. The system also gives an early warning within 3-7 day lead time.
Geospatial analysis for prospecting of biological resource, species exploration in Alpine cold desert areas of Jammu and Kashmir
Mr. Ashok Peddi from the National Remote Sensing Centre, India shared their work on developing a model for exploration of plant resources in Jammu and Kashmir by the help of remote sensing and GIS tools. Digital Elevation Model and vegetation type maps were prepared of the study area by using Spatial Analyst which showed the importance of plant resources. He also shared how their study found out the area with highest yield and how their study proved that the increasing number of sample points gave yield of exploration with less cost uncertainty.
He concluded his presentation by saying that their study reported a successful validation of GIS application designed to enhance the effectiveness of cost uncertainty in yield exploration.
Use of GIS/RS for the improvement of legal notification of Khunjerab National Park – a step towards better ecosystem management
Mr. Naeem Shahzad from WWF Pakistan presented their initiative on boundary delineation and refortification of protected areas in Pakistan. The initiative delineates the GIS based boundary of parks with the Park management, formulates a GIS based notification and re-notifies the boundary with the proposed notification. In particular, he shared their recent work on the boundary delineation of the Khunjerab National Park by the use of GIS and Remote Sensing applications. A GIS based boundary notification was prepared through consensus with the local communities and the Park authorities. The prepared notification of the National Park was then successfully issued by the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan. The GIS/RS was used for the improvement of legal notification of the national which was a step towards a better management of ecosystems of protected areas.
This platform will enable the participants of the different events during the Symposium to interact virtually, stay updated on the ongoing sessions and provide a room for debate and creative exchanges.
