APPLICATION OF REMOTE SENSING USING GEOGRAPHIC AND SOCIOECONOMIC DATASETS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOREST RESOURCES IN NEPAL

摘要

There is a growing use of Remote Sensing (RS) technologies to support the management requirements and to meet the growing demands of geographic information necessary for policymakers, planners and decision makers. Geographic data is while necessary for planning, and monitoring purposes, socio-economic datasets are necessary to get clear picture of field conditions. In Nepal, the livelihoods of rural households are heavily dependent on forestry and tree-based activities. The sustainable development of forest resources (national forests and trees on private lands), their conservation and wise use is necessary to sustain rural livelihoods in Nepal. The rural household activities and their decision-making not only depend upon their geographic location of inhabitancies but also on accessibility of forests, and infrastructure development. The socioeconomic status of the households such as landholding, education level, off-farm incomes, ethnicity, cultural habits, livestock holding also plays important role in such matters. This paper analyses how geographic datasets can be combined with socio-economic datasets, problems with collection of socioeconomic datasets and how to overcome them, and role of remote sensing applications for sustainable development of the forest resources in Nepal.