Role of Geospatial Technologies in Training for Sustainable Natural Resources Man-agement in Asia
Dr. Dietrich Schmidt-Vogt
Assistant Professor
Natural Resources Management
School of Environment, Resources and Development
Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok
Dr. Rajendra P. Shrestha
Assistant Professor
Natural Resources Management
School of Environment, Resources and Development
Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok
Abstract
The objective of this paper is to explore the role that geospatial technologies can play in training for Sustainable and Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM). For this purpose, some general reflections are presented at the beginning, on what an INRM curricu-lum is expected to provide in terms of training and education in order to build up Natural Resource Management (NRM) competence in students. From there follows an explanation, why land use and land cover change is considered a pertinent issue within an Asian regional context, and how a thematic focus on this topic with strong reliance on geospatial technolo-gies may help to build NRM competence. For the preparation of this paper the authors draw heavily on their experience as teachers at the Natural Resource Management Field of Study at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand.
1. Reflections on expected NRM competence
Natural resources are components of the natural environment, which fulfill functions in eco-system processes, and which are also useful or beneficial for humans. Many Asian develop-ing countries have not only experienced rapid economic growth in the past but also have rapidly lost or degraded their valuable nature resources base. As a result, today there are several environmental problems and natural resource management related issues that repre-sent immediate concerns for sustainable development of the region.
The aim of Integrated Natural Resource Management is to manage natural resources so as to achieve a balance between their functions for the quality of the environment and their func-tions for the quality of human life. Natural Resource Management has a very broad and complex scope, which requires a similarly broad set of skills and techniques cutting across various sciences and disciplines. It is the wideness of scope, which provides the main chal-lenge for capacity building in NRM. One of the priority concerns in NRM is gaining a better understanding of the ways that our environments are changing and how our activities inter-act and influence such processes. This can be achieved by systematically conducting the following NRM-related operations:
- Assessment of the availability and condition of natural resources (mainly through inventory and monitoring techniques);
- Analysis of problems, potentials, and perspectives (through a wide variety of ana-lytical methods from natural, social, economic, and political sciences; e.g. policy analysis, institutional analysis, livelihood analysis, analysis of ecosystem processes, impact analysis, cost and benefit analysis);
- Development and application of solutions and alternatives (through planning and management strategies and processes).
In order to perform these operations within the wide scope of NRM issues, planners and managers should also be able to perform integration at the following levels:
- scale levels (macro-, meso-, and micro-level):
- time scales (past, present);
- disciplinary levels, i.e. natural and social science perspectives;
- stakeholders and stakeholder levels.