Detailed mapping of natural resources in 46 select districts across 10 states in India are nearing completion according to a recent report. In the first phase of the project, the base map provided by the Geological Survey of India would be overlapped with census data and information made available on natural resources of the respective areas. Twenty districts in Karnataka, five in West Bengal, two each in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu would be covered in the first phase.
The second phase had also been taken up concurrently, so that all districts in these 10 states were covered. Both the phases, covering about 250 districts, would be completed before end of 2006. NRDMS is using GIS for the purpose and that Karnataka would be made a model state for planners and decision makers. NRDMS had also taken up mapping of bio-geo wealth/forest cover, land use, available forestry envisaging forestry scope and management system for India. The Department of Science and Technology had signed a MoU with their Norwegian Counterparts for collaborative research and technology transfer.
