Earth Observation Science and Applications for Risk Reduction and Enhanced Resilience in Hindu Kush Himalaya Region : : A Decade of Experience from SERVIR.

• Author: Bajracharya, Birendra.
• TeilnehmendeR: Thapa, Rajesh Bahadur.; Matin, Mir A.
• Place / Publishing House: Cham : : Springer International Publishing AG,, 2021.; ©2021.
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (398 pages)

Table of Contents

Intro -- Foreword -- Message from USAID -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- About SERVIR -- SERVIR Hindu Kush Himalaya -- List of Reviewers -- Contents -- About the Editors -- Acronyms -- 1 Earth Observation Applications in the Hindu Kush Himalaya Region-Evolution and Adoptions -- 1.1 Introduction and Rationale -- 1.2 The Geographic Context -- 1.3 Earth Observation Applications in the HKH -- 1.3.1 First Decade (1990-2000): Introduction of Geospatial Technology in the HKH -- 1.3.2 The Second Decade (2000-2010): Transition to Internet-Based Applications and Decision-Support Systems -- 1.3.3 The Third Decade (2010-2020): Transformation from Applications to Services with SERVIR-HKH -- 1.4 Overview of the Book -- References -- 2 Service Planning Approach and Its Application -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Service Planning Approach -- 2.3 Steps in Service Planning -- 2.3.1 Stage 1: Needs Assessment -- 2.3.2 Stage 2: Service Design -- 2.3.3 Stage 3: Service Delivery -- 2.4 Experiences from Adopting the Service Planning Approach -- 2.5 Conclusion -- References -- 3 Geospatial Applications in the HKH Region: Country Needs and Priorities -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 The Decision-Making Landscape -- 3.3 Materials and Methods -- 3.4 Results and Discussions -- 3.4.1 The Organizational Framework for Geospatial Applications in the HKH Countries -- 3.4.2 Institutional Assessment -- 3.4.2.1 Major Tasks of the Organizations -- 3.4.2.2 Requirement and Use of Data -- 3.4.2.3 Data-Sharing Provisions -- 3.4.3 Institutional Needs and Priorities -- 3.5 Conclusions and Major Findings -- References -- 4 A Regional Drought Monitoring and Outlook System for South Asia -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.1.1 Agriculture Drought Service in the Context of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan -- 4.1.2 Indicators for Operational Drought Monitoring.

4.1.3 Assembling Land Data Assimilation System -- 4.1.4 Evaluation of Satellite Precipitation Estimates -- 4.1.5 Season to Sub-season (S2S) Forecasting -- 4.1.6 Information System Development -- 4.1.7 Trainings and Capacity Building -- 4.1.8 Leanings and Future Directions -- References -- 5 In-Season Crop-Area Mapping for Wheat and Rice in Afghanistan and Bangladesh -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.1.1 Cereal Crop Production and Food Insecurity -- 5.1.2 Crop Dynamics in Afghanistan and Bangladesh -- 5.1.3 Wheat Crop in Afghanistan and Recent Efforts in Mapping -- 5.1.4 Rice Crop in Bangladesh and Recent Efforts in Mapping -- 5.1.5 Global RS-Based Crop-Mapping Techniques -- 5.1.6 Challenges and Needs -- 5.2 Setting up Crop Interpretation Applications and Operation -- 5.2.1 Reference Data Preparation -- 5.2.1.1 Field Data Collection -- 5.2.1.2 Data Cleaning and Preparation -- 5.2.2 Delineation of Agriculture Mask -- 5.2.3 Crop-Area Mapping -- 5.2.3.1 Wheat-Area Mapping in Afghanistan -- 5.2.3.2 Boro-Rice Mapping in Bangladesh -- 5.3 Validation and Area Assessment -- 5.4 Service Delivery -- 5.4.1 Operationalization/Application Development -- 5.4.2 Technology Transfer (Capacity Building) -- 5.5 Conclusions and Way Forward -- References -- 6 Regional Land Cover Monitoring System for Hindu Kush Himalaya -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 The Approach of RLCMS -- 6.3 Methods of Land Cover Mapping -- 6.3.1 Defining the RLCMS Classification Schemes and Primitives -- 6.3.2 Collection of Land Cover Training and Validation Data -- 6.3.3 Satellite Image Processing and Land Cover Mapping -- 6.3.4 Creating Image Indices and Covariates -- 6.3.5 Primitives Generation by Machine Learning -- 6.3.6 Annual Tree Canopy Cover and Height -- 6.3.7 Primitives Assemblage for Land Cover Mapping -- 6.3.8 Validation and Accuracy Assessment -- 6.4 Results.

6.5 Implementation at the Regional and National Levels -- 6.6 Challenges and Lessons Learnt -- 6.6.1 Class Definition -- 6.6.2 Reference Data Collection -- 6.6.3 Comparison with Legacy Data and Statistics -- 6.6.4 Limitation of the GEE Cloud Platform -- 6.6.5 Partners' Confidence -- 6.6.6 Sustainability and Human Resource -- 6.7 Conclusion and Way Forward -- References -- 7 Climate-Resilient Forest Management in Nepal -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.1.1 Ecosystem Degradation in the Hindu Kush Himalaya Region -- 7.1.2 Forest Policies and Management in Nepal -- 7.1.3 Importance of Gender and Social Inclusion in Community Forest Management -- 7.1.4 Climate Change Adaptation and Forest Ecosystems -- 7.2 Context of Services -- 7.3 Service Implementation -- 7.3.1 Service Design and Development -- 7.3.2 Climate Sensitivity and Degradation Analysis -- 7.3.2.1 Trend Analysis and Calculation of Climate Sensitivity -- 7.3.2.2 Assessment of Forest Degradation -- 7.3.2.3 Assessing Forest-Fire Risk -- 7.3.2.4 Integrating Gender Analysis for Enhancing Forest Management at the Community Level -- 7.3.3 Service Delivery -- 7.3.3.1 Enhancing the Decision-Making Capacity of Forest Managers in Nepal -- 7.4 Way Forward -- References -- 8 Forest Fire Detection and Monitoring -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.1.1 Forest Fire Across the World -- 8.1.2 Need for Forest-Fire Risk Mapping and Fire Monitoring -- 8.1.3 RS and GIS Application in Forest Fire Detection and Monitoring -- 8.1.4 Forest-Fire Impacts During the Last Decade in Nepal -- 8.1.5 Collaborations and Partnerships for Forest-Fire Management in Nepal -- 8.1.6 Objectives of the Forest-Fire Detection and Monitoring System -- 8.2 Methodology -- 8.2.1 Fire-Risk Mapping -- 8.2.2 Fire Monitoring -- 8.2.2.1 MODIS Fire-Detection Process -- 8.2.2.2 Data Processing Workflow -- 8.2.2.3 Web Application for Fire-Alert Dissemination.

8.2.2.4 Alert Generation and Distribution -- 8.2.2.5 Email Alerts -- 8.2.2.6 Fire-Incidence Maps and Feedback from Field -- 8.2.3 Temporal Distribution of Forest Fires in Nepal -- 8.2.4 Characteristics of the Location of Fire Occurrence -- 8.2.5 Forest-Fire Risk Zone and Vulnerability -- 8.2.6 Forest-Fire Monitoring System in Nepal -- 8.3 Deployment of Forest-Fire Detection and Monitoring System -- 8.4 Limitations and Challenges -- 8.5 Capacity Enhancement of Partners -- 8.6 Way Forward -- References -- 9 Enhancing Flood Early Warning System in the HKH Region -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.2 Flooding Trend in the HKH -- 9.2.1 Perspective on the Current State of Flood Management-Issues and Challenges -- 9.2.2 State of the Science in Flood Forecasting -- 9.2.3 State of Flood EWSs -- 9.3 Societal Values of EWSs -- 9.3.1 Situational Awareness and Preparedness -- 9.3.2 Loss and Damage Reduction -- 9.3.3 Extending the Lead Time -- 9.4 Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) Services and Tools in SERVIR-HKH -- 9.4.1 Flood Prediction Tools -- 9.4.2 Hydro-Informatic Workflow -- 9.4.3 Implementation of Innovative, Customizable Tools -- 9.5 Current State of Service Implementation and Validation -- 9.5.1 Dissemination and Delivery -- 9.5.2 Capacity Development -- 9.5.3 Validation -- 9.5.4 Transition to Operational Service -- 9.5.4.1 Bangladesh -- 9.5.4.2 Nepal -- 9.5.4.3 Bhutan -- 9.6 Learnings and Future Direction -- 9.6.1 Challenges and Opportunities -- 9.6.2 Way Forward -- 9.7 Conclusion -- References -- 10 Rapid Flood Mapping Using Multi-temporal SAR Images: An Example from Bangladesh -- 10.1 Introduction -- 10.2 Satellite Data in Flood Mapping -- 10.3 SAR Data Processing Tools -- 10.4 Use of SAR Flood Mapping for Emergency Response in the HKH Region -- 10.5 Rapid Flood Mapping-Bangladesh, 2019 -- 10.6 Dissemination and Outcome -- 10.7 Conclusion and Way Forward.

References -- 11 Monitoring of Glaciers and Glacial Lakes in Afghanistan -- 11.1 Introduction -- 11.2 Glacier and Glacial Lake Monitoring Approach -- 11.3 Implementation -- 11.4 Results -- 11.4.1 Status of Glaciers and Its Changes -- 11.4.2 Status of Glacial Lake and Its Changes -- 11.5 Institutional Collaboration -- 11.5.1 Capacity Development -- 11.5.2 Dissemination -- 11.6 Lessons Learnt -- 11.7 Way Forward -- References -- 12 The High-Impact Weather Assessment Toolkit -- 12.1 Introduction -- 12.2 Forecasting High-Impact Weather -- 12.2.1 Challenges of Forecasting Thunderstorms -- 12.2.2 Ensemble-Based, Convection-Allowing NWP -- 12.3 A High-Impact Weather Service for the HKH Region -- 12.3.1 Model Configuration -- 12.3.2 Probabilistic Forecast Products -- 12.4 HIWAT Forecast Demonstrations -- 12.4.1 Hailstorm: 30 March 2018 -- 12.4.2 Lightning -- 12.4.3 High-Intensity Rainfall Forecasting -- 12.5 Summary, Challenges, and Way Forward -- References -- 13 Geospatial Information Technology for Information Management and Dissemination -- 13.1 Introduction -- 13.2 Adoption of GIT at SERVIR-HKH -- 13.3 Platforms and Technologies -- 13.4 Development Approach -- 13.5 GIT Solutions -- 13.5.1 Data Generation -- 13.5.2 Data Management -- 13.5.3 Data Dissemination -- 13.5.4 Data and Information Portals -- 13.5.5 Application Services -- 13.5.6 Mobile Applications -- 13.6 Experiences from SERVIR-HKH -- References -- 14 Strengthening the Capacity on Geospatial Information Technology and Earth Observation Applications -- 14.1 Introduction -- 14.2 Capacity Gap in the Region: A Brief Outlook -- 14.3 Capacity Building Pathways -- 14.3.1 Capacity Assessment -- 14.3.2 Capacity Building Design -- 14.3.3 Implementing Capacity Building Activities -- 14.3.4 Monitoring and Evaluating the Impact of Capacity Building Activities -- 14.4 Mapping the Impact Pathways.

14.4.1 Training Modules, Contents and Materials.