| Sanction Date: | 26-02-2018 | |||
| Project Category | MG | |||
| Batch Year | 2017-2018 | |||
| Project Duration | 3 Years + 9 Months Extension | |||
| BTA : | Biodiversity Conservation and Management | |||
| Project Site/ State/ Districts/ Villages Covered: | Kumaun Himalaya - Pindari Region in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve and Dachingam National Park, Kashmir | |||
| Organization/ Implementation Agency: |
Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi Uttar Pradesh |
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| Project Partners: | S.No. | Name | ||
1. |
DST-Mahamana Centre for Excellence in Climate Change Research, Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, | |||
2. |
G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment & Sustainable Development, Almora, Uttarakhand | |||
3. |
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Kashmir, Kashmir | |||
4. |
CSIR Fourth Paradigm Institute, NAL Belur Campus, Bangalore, India | |||
5. |
Design and Innovation Centre, BHU and IIT (BHU) (Funded by MHRD), | |||
| Lead Proponent: | Dr. Prashant Kumar Srivastav Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh |
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| Project Brief Description: | Information on extent availability of the high value (ecologically or economically) plants is of prime importance. The Himalaya, which represents one of the global biodiversity hotspots, is rich in div ersity of such high value plant species, and e ndemic, rare, critically endangered and economically important medicinal plants form an important part of Himalayan Ecosystem. They play an integral role in structure and functioning of the ecosystem. Therefore, their detection, quantification of biophysical and biochemical factors are considered to be prime element in vegetation monitoring, sustainable utilization and resource conservation. Hyperspectral acquisition provides spectral response in narrow and cont inuous spectral bands, with significant improvements when compared with broad bands in terms of spectral resolution. The spectral profile obtained through the radiometer can be used for creation of spectral digital library and subsequently used it for the detection and monitoring of medicinal, rare, endangered and economically important plants. Hyperspectral remote sensing data can be further used for the estimation of phenolics contents as well as biophysical and biochemical parameters in the plants through forward and inverse modelling approaches. Several hyperspectral indices will be developed based on selected species and stages to develop a simulation model. The combined PROSPECT leaf optical properties model and SAIL canopy bidirectional reflectance model, also referred as PROSAIL, will be used to study plant canopy spectral and directional reflectance properties. The spectral variation of canopy reflectance is related to leaf biochemical contents and its directional variation based on canopy architectu re and soil/vegetation contrast, which is again dependent on the type and stages of selected Medicinal, Rare and Endangered species. PROSAIL will be used to develop new methods for retrieval of vegetation biophysical properties in linkage with select speci es and stages and vice versa. Further, for identified Medicinal, Rare and Endangered type and stages, several artificial intelligence techniques such as spectral angle mapper, neural network, support vector machines, random forest etc will be also attempte d, to provide classified data at a larger scale. Another major work in this project is the assessing the influence of climate change on the distribution of medicinal, rare, endangered and economically important plants. Because of changes in the temperature regime, there is shifting in the above mentioned plants towards the higher altitude. Some species those who are not adapted or acclimatized are in the verge of extinction. Identification and monitoring of these spec ies and their biophysical and biochemical parameters using the hyperspectral remote sensing can provide the conservation of vulnerable species. Further, it will help detecting the economically important species and their distribution in short time over the complex terrain of Himalayan and can also predict their extinction or survival chances through the projected climate data over the Himalayas. Therefore, this study is a beautiful merger of climate change with the state of the art hyperspectral remote sensing. | |||
| Beneficiaries/ Stakeholders: | All project partners and including Ministry of Ayush,GOI, ISRO, Forest, Agricultre and Meteorological departments and MoEF&CC | |||
| Activity Chart (For 3 Years): | Click Here | |||
| Total Grants (in Rs.) | Rs.2,23,74,560.00/- (Rupees Two Crore Twenty Three Lakh Seventy Four Thousand Five Hundred Sixty only) | |||
| Project Objectives | Quantifiable Deliverables | Monitoring Indicators |
| To detect and identify the medicinal plants and threatened plants in relation to pedological and climatic conditions using the handheld hyperspectral spectroradiometer; | Spectral library and standardization for selected medicinal and threatened species; | Periodic, regular updates on Spectral Library of the economically important plant species (Nos); |
| Spectral library of the economically important plant species to use with the hyperspectral satellite and airborne data; | Spectral and image analysis for discrimination of 4 selected economically important plant species; | No. of New Database/ Datasets generated on the identified dynamics, i.e. biochemical and biophysical properties of selected species; |
| Development of knowledge based planning of an appropriate management system to Safeguard medicinal and threatened species. | Model for retrieval of Biochemical and Biophysical properties of selected species (04 No.); | Fine scale space-time distribution maps of economically important species in the target area; |
| Projection and scenario for distribution of selected species (4 No.); | Assessment report/ manual on safeguarding the medicinal and threatened plant species; | |
| Policy/ Strategic frameworks/ drafts (No.) for assisting the regional decision-making in the identified area and dynamics; | ||
| Fine scale space-time map of the high value species in the Himalaya (04 No.); | Other Publications and knowledge products (Nos.). | |
| Plan for management and sustainable harvest of species (01 No.) based on above. |
| S.No. | Name (Sanctioned Staff) | Qualification | Designation | Salary |
| 1. | 01 RA-I @ Rs.36,000- per month + HRA | |||
| 2. | 01 RA-I @ Rs.36,000- per month + HRA | |||
| 3. | 1 JRF @ Rs.25,000/- + HRA | |||
| 4. | 02 JRF @ Rs.25,000/- + HRA | |||
| 5. | 02 Lab Assistant @ Rs.12,000/- per month |
| S.No. | Name of Equipment (Sanctioned Equipment) | Details/ Use | Cost (in INR) |
| 1. | Hyperspectral Radiometer (full range with all addons) | ||
| 2. | additional cost for Drone assembly |
