Preface

Sustainable development refers to utilizing natural capital using qualitative and quantitative integrity by balancing anthropogenic practices, such as social activities, acquired awareness, modern technology, and food production with conservation. Sustainability attempts to identify resource scarcity, deforestation, destruction of ecosystems, and global and local environmental degradation. Sustainable utilization and control of critical natural resources cannot be accomplished without considering its impact on humans. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to ensure the long-term management of natural resources and their sustainable use from an ecological and socioeconomic viewpoint.

GI Science consists of satellite remote sensing (RS), Geographical Information System (GIS), and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology that is nowadays a backbone of environmental protection, natural resource management, and sustainable development and planning. Being a powerful and proficient tool for mapping, monitoring, modeling, and managing natural resources, it can understand the Earth's surface and its dynamics at different observational scales. Through the spatial understanding of the problem concerning land resources, policymakers can make prudent decisions to restore and conserve critically endangered resources, such as water bodies, lakes, rivers, air, forests, wildlife, and biodiversity.

Geographic Information Science for Land Resource Management is a comprehensive book focusing on managing land resources using innovative spatial information sciences and satellite remote sensing techniques and has been written by prominent researchers actively working in this field of science. The enormous stress on the land resources over the years due to anthropogenic activities for commercialization and livelihood needs has increased manifold. The only solution to this problem lies in the stakeholders' awareness, which can only be attained through scientific means. This awareness is the basis of sustainable development, which involves optimal natural resources management, subject to reliable, accurate, and timely information from the global to the local scale. The primary focus of this book is to replenish the gap in the available literature on the subject by bringing the concepts, theories, and experiences of the specialists and professionals in this field jointly. The editors have worked hard to bring the best literature in this field in book form to help students, researchers, and policymakers develop a complete understanding of the land system's vulnerabilities and solutions. We hope the book shall do service to humanity, as it is intended to do.

Chapter 1 starts with the review of various literature concerning climate change in South Asia and GIScience's role in its adaptation of mitigation. According to the authors, South Asia is one of the world's oldest civilizations. However, it is currently facing grave issues regarding climate change, particularly the changes in the precipitation and temperature patterns. South Asia is home to more than 20% of the world population. The region is already facing the pressure of high population, and degradation of natural resources makes this region more vulnerable to climate change. Other environmental indicators include increasing temperature, melting of Himalaya ice with a high rate, rising sea level in coastal areas, floods, increasing frequency of cyclones. Remote Sensing and GIS allow to gather information quickly and use it to adapt and help with damage assessment. South Asia needs a collective policy framework to mitigate climate change's disastrous impacts to achieve sustainable development objectives. Chapter 2 reviews the importance of land resources and the role of GI technology in its management. Land resources are renewable, extensive, and provide ground for all development activities. Twelve million hectares of land degrades every year globally, while a hundred million hectares of India is non-arable land. India promised to turn 26 million hectares of land into agricultural land that requires holistic information about landforms (like plains, hills, plateaus). The land resource planners need a synoptic view of land resources. Potential intervention areas include smart funding machinery, geospatial technology, private sector involvement, and funding diverted to increasing the ability to replenish natural resources.

In Chapter 3, Agra city's urbanization has been assessed using analysis of satellite imagery to show spatial and temporal aspects of urban growth in Agra city. The LULC classification has been performed on Landsat TM, ETM+, and OLI satellite datasets. The city has been attracting more migrants resulting in environmental, economic, social, and ecological impacts. The author argues that proper urban planning must be coordinated between the local government and decision-makers for the sustainable development of Agra. Chapter 4 aims to define anthropogenic practices in contravention of the legislation in place and then, using geospatial methods, map out these interaction activities in Takamanda National Park, Cameroon. This study was done between 2014-2017. The majority of the information was retrieved using PAs management authority's database; however, GPS and Garmin eTrex systems have also been used to capture the locations of anthropogenic practices in the study area. ArcGIS 10.2.2 was used to map these practices. The anthropogenic practices observed were fishing, hunting/poaching, harvesting non-timber forest products-NTFPs, and livestock rearing in the protected area (PA). The study has highlighted PA management's problems and the urgency for a successful PA structure to be placed in motion if the SDGs are to be achieved at the country level.

Chapter 5 reviews the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect and addresses how a micro-climate event is identified as the most distinguished urban climate representative. It has been considered a perilous predicament for years for its harmful contribution to global warming, heat-related deaths, erratic climate patterns, patterns of energy expenditure, urban air quality, and critical threat well-being of urban residents. With the change in land use patterns in urban areas, the landscape's ability to manage the UHI effect has also changed. The author demonstrates how the impact of UHI can be significantly mitigated by using energy-efficient technologies and improving urban landscape planning and strategies. Despite increased studies on the UHI effect, no comprehensive assessment of the UHI effect elements has been reported in the existing literature. This chapter addresses the urgent need to recognize and categorize the elements that participate and mitigate the UHI effect to understand its underlying mechanisms systematically. Chapter 6 provides an introduction to the mountain cryosphere and its main concepts. Authors discuss the significance of snow studies in the alpine regions and discuss snowpack properties in the alpine regions that are essential for snowpack characterization. The authors further discuss the role of remote sensing and the importance of using it to get a more precise grasp of the snow's physical properties and conclude that these techniques allow monitoring the alpine snowpack and their application to hydrological modeling, and avalanche forecasting.

In Chapter 7, a computational model known as spectral ratioing is discussed and explained in spatiotemporal feature extraction through satellite imagery. Since multispectral satellite images are in multiple spectral bands, a different mathematical combination is used for each spectral band. The chapter discusses how spectral ratioing can be used to derive different features. Categorization of spectra is reviewed, and spectral indices are listed along with examples. The chapter explores the types of spectral ratios and indexes and their applicability for different purposes. The spectral ratio method has been used to explore the features that can be characterized in the image by their spectral properties. Chapter 8 aims to quantify surface water coverage in the mining region of Odisha. The study estimated the changes from 2016-2019 and the changes from January 2019 to December 2019. A decision tree method was used to detect all water-bearing pixels in the study area. The chapter emphasizes satellite data's role in tracking the variations in area coverage of surface water over time and space that helps in sustainable water management decisions.

In Chapter 9, spatial variations of physicochemical parameters of Wular lake, one of Asia's largest freshwater lakes, were investigated using mapping of higher plumes/identifying critical areas. The authors have observed that the lake water is alkaline, characterized by medium total dissolved solids and electrical conductivity. The average concentration of parameters like calcium, magnesium, and nitrates was highest in the Lake's northern side due to anthropogenic inputs. Other parameters like water temperature, turbidity, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, hardness, alkalinity, and phosphates also showed a variable character throughout the Lake both temporally and spatially. The results highlight the varied lake water character in different seasons with the increase and decrease in Lake's flow. In Chapter 10, a water quality assessment has been carried out in Tehsil Matta District SWAT Pakistan. The water samples have been tested for pH, electric conductivity, DO, salinity, alkalinity, total dissolved solids, chloride, sulphate, and BOD in the Environmental Sciences University of Peshawar. The results showed that pH,...