Abstract
Nepal, a Himalayan country, is situated on the southern slopes of the central Himalayas and represents about one-third of its whole length. Nepal has a population of around 26.5 million and a large proportion of this rely upon land-based activities for their livelihoods. Its elevation ranges 60–8848 masl which constitutes 10 major ecoregions providing diverse ecosystem services crucial for its inhabitants as well as downstream populations. At the ecosystem level, changes in structure, function, patterns of disturbance, and potential impacts of climate change on species are notable concerns. Earth Observation (EO) technologies are being applied for the monitoring and assessment of Nepal on various scales. Since recently, EO supported assessments are also being linked to decision-making processes. In this chapter, we review the status of EO based assessment of key ecosystem components, including forests, rangelands, agro-ecosystems, and wetlands in Nepal. The chapter also looks at the current information gaps and potential use of upcoming satellite technology developments in the context of Nepal.
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Acknowledgements
This study was partially supported by core funds of ICIMOD contributed by the governments of Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Norway, Pakistan, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. This work contributes to the NASA SERVIR Himalaya program, REDD+ Himalaya Initiative and NASA Land-Cover/Land-Use Change Program (No: NNX14AD94G).
Conflicts of Interest
The views and interpretations in this publication are those of the authors. They are not necessarily attributable to ICIMOD and UIUC do not imply the expression of any opinion by ICIMOD and UIUC concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area of its authority, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or the endorsement of any product.
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Gilani, H., Qamer, F.M., Sohail, M., Uddin, K., Jain, A., Ning, W. (2017). Review of Ecosystem Monitoring in Nepal and Evolving Earth Observation Technologies. In: Li, A., Deng, W., Zhao, W. (eds) Land Cover Change and Its Eco-environmental Responses in Nepal. Springer Geography. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2890-8_7
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