Accomplishing sustainable development in Southern Kurdistan using geoinformatics: an overview

Southern Kurdistan is experiencing a rapid rate of development, which is often associated with increased industrialization, population growth, economic development and urbanization. These events generally lead to continuous degradation of the environment and natural resources i.e. water, soil, air, natural habitats and biological diversity. These in turn, if not managed, could eventually slow down and threaten the pace of economic development. Consequently, there is a real need to understand and attempt to manage these events. This paper argues that the specific conditions in southern Kurdistan, the nature and unavailability of reliable information for decision making necessitates the use of Geoinformatics as an effective tool to sensibly utilise and conserve the environment and natural resources whilst furthering the development process. An overview of the likely environmental problems in Southern Kurdistan and the possible usage of Geoinformatics for achieving sustainable development has been discussed

An analysis of remote sensing, GIS, and World Wide Web utilization in geoscience education in the UK

The study aims to examine the usage as well as the potential future use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, and the World Wide Web (WWW) for teaching and learning the Geosciences in higher education institutions in the U.K. via information gathered through a questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to all geography departments in the U.K.. Forty-one departments returned it, giving a response rate of 51.2 percent. All institutions were ranked based on their use of each technology; an overall usage ranking was calculated as well. Institutions achieving the highest scores for remote sensing were Southampton, Swansea and Edinburgh Universities. For GIS they were Leeds and Edinburgh Universities and for the WWW it was Southampton University which was also the highest overall ranking institution. A large proportion of the institutions surveyed were not fully aware of the variety and depth of information accessible via the WWW and of the potential of its use. The analysis revealed that there is a correlation between the individual use of these technologies within each institution and an overall expectation for increasing the usage of all technologies in the future. Traditional universities had the highest ranking for each technology as well as the highest overall usage of all three technologies

Environmental monitoring of estuaries: estimating and mapping various environmental indicators in Breydon Water Estuary, UK, using Landsat TM imagery

The spatial and temporal distribution of suspended solids, turbidity, temperature, salinity, chlorophyll aand total phosphorus were estimated and mapped with various degrees of success in Breydon Water Estuary using satellite (Landsat Thematic Mapper) imagery. All the indicators exhibit a similar spatial pattern within the estuary. High values are found at both the saltwater and freshwater ends of the estuary, and low values are found in the mixing zone. The pattern is thought to be due to the influence of suspended solids and turbidity on the optical characteristics of water in this environment. The distribution of suspended solids and turbidity are influenced by the flood–ebb intervals, the sedimentation processes and the internal topography of the estuary. All of the predicted values are consistent with those reported in the literature

Enduring geohazards in the Caribbean: moving from the reactive to the proactive

Landslides and flooding in the Caribbean are destructive, endemic forces that destroy homes, businesses and schools, cost millions of dollars annually and kill hundreds of men, women and children. This book promotes a holistic approach for managing geohazards in the region. It emphasizes a preventive, proactive approach rather than a reactive one. It demonstrates and evaluates the use of current approaches and technologies such as geographical information science, remote sensing and geographical positioning systems for managing geohazards. The book is structured in three parts: the first focuses on landslides; the second on floods; and the third on managing geohazards in small island nations including the development of early warning systems

Developing a geoinformatics based approach to manage water resources in Southern Kurdistan

The region is currently experiencing an increase in water demand due to an expanding population, improvements in life quality and development activities. Consequently, Water Resource Managers and decision makers will be required to balance a dwindling supply with an escalating demand. These decision makers will need to use every aid available to them in order to identify management options for optimising the use of these limited water resources. The applicability of Geoinformatics as a water resources management tool in Southern Kurdistan and the relevance and the potential success of a range of applications, including water supply, hydrological catchment management, and managing sedimentation in reservoirs, floods and agriculture are examined. Based on the outcome of these assessments a Geoinformatics based hydrological management system is proposed. This management system will use Remote Sensing as an information source and GIS as an analytical tool within the management system. The system will enable decision makers to extrapolate, predict, update, plan, evaluate, compare, simulate and visualise various management actions and to anticipate the consequences of implementing each action over different periods of time in an objective manner, ultimately enabling them to optimise management decisions