The Space Applications Centre (SAC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen to focus on mapping India’s grasslands and assessing the impacts of restoration efforts on degraded lands.
As per SAC-ISRO’s findings 29.77% (96.85 Mha) area of India was undergoing land degradation during 2018-19, which constitutes 0.44% area of the country.
The partnership seeks to support national and state-level decision-making on land use, climate action, conservation, and rural livelihoods.
This joint effort seeks to support national and state-level decision-making on land use, climate action, conservation, and rural livelihoods. It will also contribute to the development of scalable and standardised approaches for identifying and monitoring ecosystems such as grasslands, savannas and deserts , landscapes that are ecologically significant but have often received limited attention in policy and planning.
The MoU brings together the complementary strengths of SAC-ISRO and ATREE, combining advances in space-based observation with ecological science and field-based insights
The partnership is aligned with India’s commitment to achieving Land Degradation Neutrality by 2030 and contributing to progress across multiple Sustainable Development Goals.
Land degradation is an issue of increasing global concern and threatens productivity of land, water quality, biodiversity and living status of the people. India is a signatory to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Paris signed on June 17, 1994.
