ISPRS WG VIII/6 JOINT INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP

17 July 2009, 3:29pm

ISPRS WG VIII/6, GEO AG 07 03 & ISRS
JOINT INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON
Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture
Hosted by
Space Applications Centre (SAC), ISRO, Ahmedabad, India
&
Indian Society of Remote Sensing-Ahmedabad Chapter

Venue: SAC, Ahmedabad, India

Background

Climate change is one of the most important global environmental challenges, with implications for food production, water supply, health, energy, etc. The weather indicators of global change include increased global mean surface temperature; increased continental precipitation (Northern hemisphere), increased heavy precipitation events and increased frequency and severity of drought. Agriculture is an activity that is highly dependent upon weather and climate in order to produce the food and fibre necessary to sustain human life. According to the IPCC, crop productivity is projected to increase slightly at mid- to high latitudes for local mean temperature increase of up to 1-3°C depending on the crop, and then decrease beyond that in some regions. However, there has been conflicting reports regarding the effects of climate change on agriculture and its complexities have not been completely under-stood. As farmers are subjected to an increased frequency of extreme weather events and a changing climate, they will inevitably need to adapt their farming practices to these new conditions. In addition, changes in global supply and demand for crops will provide new challenges to farmers worldwide. It is thus timely and pertinent to have a workshop to discuss the impact of climate change on agriculture, especially to understand the role of earth observation data for studying climate change.

Topics of Workshop

- Climate Change Scenarios in the Context of World Agriculture
- Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture
- The Role of Earth Observation in Agricultural Monitoring
- Role of Long-term Earth Observation Data in the Study of Climate Change Impacts
- Agricultural Adaptation Measures

Call for Paper

Original research papers, covering one or more of the above topics, are invited for presentation (either oral or poster) at the Workshop. Extended abstracts, in English, not exceeding 1000 words can be submitted online through the website. Online submission facility will be available soon. Instructions for authors for preparing manuscript will be mailed and can also be accessed through ISPRS website below. Selected full papers will be published in the ISPRS Archive, which will be distributed during the Workshop. The operating language of the Workshop will be English.

Important Date:
Last Date for Submission of Abstracts : June 30, 2009
Intimation of Acceptance of Abstracts : July 15, 2009
Submission of Full papers : Sept. 30, 2009

Registration - The registration fee includes admission to all sessions, a copy of proceedings on CD, a workshop dinner and working lunches. Registration fee for participation is:
a) Rs. 2000/- for Indian Participants.
b) USD 100 for International Participants

Registration can be done online through workshop website. The facility will be available soon.

Payment - The mode of payment for all transactions is through direct bank transfer to the Workshop account. Details will be provided on the website.

Venue
The Workshop will be organized at Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
Ahmedabad is the largest city in Gujarat and the sixth largest city in India with a population of almost 4.6 million. Located on the banks of the River Sabarmati, this historic center is presently a thriving business district and famous for Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram.

About ISPRS WG VIII/6

The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) is devoted to promote international coop-eration, co-ordination and advancement of photogram-metry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences and their applications for global development (www.isprs.org). All the scientific and technical activities of ISPRS are be-ing conducted through its 8 technical commissions. Tech-nical Commission VIII on "Remote Sensing Applications and Policies" has 10 working groups and the sixth working group (WG VIII/6) is on "Agriculture, Ecosystem and Bio-diversity". This working group deals with agriculture, vegetation, ecosystem, wetland, biodiversity and climate change impact assessment (www.commission8.isprs.org/wg6/).

About GEO AG 07 03

The Group on Earth Observations is coordinating efforts to build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS.) GEO was launched in response to calls for ac-tion by the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Develop-ment and by the G8 leading industrialized countries. The purpose of the Task GEO AG 07 03 is to support the devel-opment of an Operational Agricultural Monitoring System of Systems, enhancing the current capabilities in the areas of agricultural monitoring, famine early warning and food security (http://www.earthobservations.org/cop_ag_gams.shtml).

About SAC

The Space Applications Centre (SAC) as a major Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has been playing an important role in utilizing space technology through its various applications for socio-economic devel-opment of the country (http://www.sac.gov.in/). The centre is responsible for the development, realization and qualifi-cation of the payloads and related ground systems in the areas of communications, broadcasting, earth observations including remote sensing of natural resources, weather and environmental monitoring, etc. As part of the Remote Sens-ing Applications Programme, SAC carries out many appli-cations of national importance including agricultural fore-casting. SAC has initiated a programme called PRACRITI to study the impact of global change.

About ISRS & ISRS-AC

Indian Society of Remote Sensing (ISRS), established in 1969, is a premier society in the country to help towards advancement, dissemination and application of the knowl-edge of remote sensing technology (www.isrsindia.org). The ISRS – Ahmedabad Chapter (ISRS – AC), founded in 1983 is the first and the largest Chapter with a life mem-bership of more than 350. It has been providing a forum for resource scientists, remote sensing technologists, planners and decision makers to exchange views and influence.

ISPRS WG VIII/6

Instructions for authors

Geo: International