Remote Sensing and GIS for Socio-Hydrological Vulnerability

摘要

The relevance of natural disasters such as droughts, floods and its impacts is well recognized. Socio-hydrological vulnerability studies have shown that the tropics of South America, Africa, Asia and Australia could experience a significant change in the frequency of occurrence and the intensity of natural disasters and they have a multidimensional effect on humanity in terms of several socio-economic parameters like agriculture, human health, sea level rise, scarcity of labour, disease prevalence, etc. Natural disasters are expected to impact livelihood and their occurrence will further aggravate poverty levels and sustainability of livelihood means in the years to come. The adversities resulting from natural disasters emphasize the importance of strategies needed to cope with the impacts. Unless well-thought strategies are implemented, they can result in a far reaching consequence and cause severe impacts on societies and livelihood especially among the natural resource dependent communities. Managing socio-hydrological vulnerability and enhancing resilience against natural disasters are the major pressing issues particularly among the developing tropical countries of the continents. However, the impacts, socio-hydrological vulnerability and capacity to adapt to these changes differ with time and space. For the same reason, international and national organizations, viz., United Nations Frame work Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), etc., are partnered to formalize plans to minimize the impacts.