Two weeks short course on “Remote Sensing and GIS Applications in Forestry and Ecology” was conducted by Forestry and Ecology Division (FED), NESAC during December 05-16, 2022 at NESAC Outreach Facility. A total of 41 participants attended the course, which includes officials from forest department, faculties from colleges and universities, research scholars and post graduate students. The inaugural programme started with the welcome address by the Course Officer Dr. Dhruval Bhavsar and it was followed by introduction of participants. An overview of course was briefed by Smt. H. Suchitra Devi, Course Director. Remarks on the course were given by Dr. K. K. Sarma, Group Head, Remote Sensing and Application Group. Dr. S.P. Aggarwal, Director, NESAC welcomed all the participants and addressed the participants on the importance geospatial technology in various application of forest ecosystem such as forest management, forest working plan preparation, carbon stock assessment, climate change, etc.
The training covered basics of remote sensing and GIS, GPS, familiarisation of remote sensing data and RS & GIS software. The topic covered in RS and GIS applications in forestry and ecology are forest cover and density mapping, growing stock and biomass assessment, wildlife habitat evaluation, species distribution modelling, forest fire monitoring and burnt area assessment. A brief introduction to advance remote sensing applications such as UAV, hyperspectral, microwave and LiDAR remote sensing were given to the participants during the training course. Guest faculties were also invited to deliver the talk on some of the advance remote sensing technology viz. Dr. Hitendra Padalia (Scientist, IIRS, ISRO) on forest and climate change, Dr. Bharat Lohani (Professor, IIT-Kanpur) on LiDAR remote sensing and Dr. Gulab Singh (Associate Professor, IIT-Bombay) on microwave remote sensing.
The valedictory programme was conducted on December 16, 2022 where Dr. Subhash Ashutosh, IFS, Co-Chairman & Director (CoE, NRM & SL), MBDA graced the occasion as the chief guest for the event. The programme was concluded with vote of thanks offered by Dr. Dhruval Bhavsar, Course Officer.
