A scheme for resource accounting using remote sensing technique

Accounting of national resources comprising of natural or environmental and man-made resources, is an important exercise for enabling efficient macro-level planning and decision making. Utilisation of data procured from satellite, its processing and analysis may greatly assist in resource estimation and accounting which has been clearly brought out in this paper. The paper suggests a remotely sensed data based resource accounting scheme capable of identifying various resources, quantifying them in physical and monetary terms, analysing the temporal changes over a selected area and thereby assisting in overall planning for the region The scheme has been suitably demonstrated with the help of five-year temporal satellite data of a selected area over the Indian capital city of New Delhi, Three indicators, based on the results of physical and economic growth rates, have been found to be useful for assessing the various resources. For the study area and period of analysis, the forest cover has been found to be the most threatened resource indicated by fall in areal extent and rapid increase in degraded region. From the viewpoint of sustainability, the growth of built-up region needs to be cautiously watched and planned systematically.