Harnessing Earth Observation and Satellite Information for Monitoring Desertification, Drought and Agricultural Activities in Developing Countries

Abstract

global average surface temperature has increased over the 20th century by about 0.6ºC [3]. Global Circulation Models have projected that this rise in temperature may increase to a range of 1.5-5.8ºC by the end of the century. Results of crop growth modeling under climate change scenarios suggest that agriculture, and thus human well-being, will be negatively affected by climate change, especially in developing countries [4]. The vulnerability to drought and land degradation has increased in the past decades and this is especially true due to increased population pressure and limited livelihood options in drought-prone areas [5]. Significant gaps in observing systems exist, especially in developing countries, and timely access to both surface-based and space observations is still a challenge in many locations. Global-scale population growth and economic development will have a large impact on water supply and demand, and it is necessary to understand the interactions between climate change and variability, hydrology and human systems, in order to have a view on future water vulnerabilities [6]. Since developing countries will become more susceptible to climate variability and drought, it is essential to develop climate (impact) monitoring services. A climate service involves broad partnerships of producer and user organizations, climate scientists, climate service providers, economists and social scientists. It provides an opportunity to interlink global, national and regional information systems; to provide essential information to policy makers, decision takers and to the public in general at regional and local scales, and a provide for a distributed decision-relevant research and development capability [7]. The climate service for the developing countries might focus on collaborative problem solving. Also capacity building and the improvement of infrastructure, related to the acquisition of advanced remote sensing technologies and the installation of satellite receiving stations by, is needed. The gist of this chapter is therefore to strengthen the capacities of the regional scientific community to provide stakeholders from drought to agricultural activities with satellite information that is directly useful to improve decision-making in the context of the developing countries. The chapter is based on four case studies from Africa, South America, India and Europe to demonstrate the utility of satellite imagery data obtained from free or low cost platforms in providing information to address the above environmental issues, which are critical particularly in developing countries. Based on the expertise, experience and interest of a regional network of scientists from Uganda, Brazil, India, and Europe, the chapter focuses on harnessing satellite remote sensing resources and products for drought monitoring of areas subject to or in risk of land degradation processes, agricultural productivity and drought assessment. The following paragraphs include a series of example cases where time series of satellite imagery is...

Estudio del NDVI mediante análisis multiescalar y series temporales utilizando imágenes SPOT, durante el período 1998-2012 en el Uruguay

“…Además de la distribución de la serie se trazó el modelo de tendencia lineal general (MLG) con sus correspondientes coeficientes. Estos resultados proporcionan una fuerte evidencia de que se registra una tendencia general a la baja del NDVI, concordante con las tendencias encontradas para la región pampeana (Zhao y Running, 2010;Samanta et al, 2011;Barbosa et al, 2013).…”

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