R. H. Rizvi

Utilizing Geospatial Technologies for Agroforestry Research and Development in India

Geospatial technologies like GIS, GPS and satellite remote sensing have wide applications in crop area estimation, forest cover assessment, management of natural resources, watershed planning and monitoring, disaster assessment, etc. These technologies can be successfully applied in agroforestry research and development in India. Some of the fields of agroforestry research are estimation of agroforestry area in the country, assessment of carbon stock/sequestration under agroforestry systems, development of library of spectral signature for identification of tree species on farms and development of spatial decision support systems (SDSS) for selection of suitable agroforestry species/systems for a particular area. This chapter has highlighted recent developments in these research areas of agroforestry. Methodology for estimating area under agroforestry using remote sensing and some country-level estimates are given. Utilization of the geospatial technologies in assessment of carbon sequestration under agroforestry systems is also described. Some methods of tree species identification on farms have been demonstrated in this chapter.