Potential of geospatial technologies for mitigating land and water related disasters

Abstract

Land and water are primary ingredients in generating rural livelihoods, growing food, producing energy, supporting industrial and service sector growth, and ensuring the integrity of ecosystems and the goods and services they provide. Water also poses its own development challenges. The occurrence of disasters such as floods, droughts and water-related diseases often produce a huge impact on communities as well as on national economies (GWP, 2004; NDMD, 2004). The ever-increasing human and livestock population is creating tremendous pressure on the land and water to get food, fodder, fuel and shelter. To feed the enormous population, cultivation of land has been intensified and even expanded into unsuitable and unprotected lands, and fallow cycles have been shortened (Sombroek and Sene, 1993; Sommer et al., 2001). However, soil resources, highly diversified over different geographic locations, are vulnerable, fragile and prone to degradation due to improper management practices. In addition, growing water scarcity is a serious concern in the 21st century (Postel, 1993; Loucks, 2000; Evans and Sadler, 2008). © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.