22. System Dynamics and Geospatial Technology-Based Approach for Sustainable Development in Mining Dominant Area

The sustainable development approach for the utilization of natural resources for the areas undergoing intense anthropogenic activities is very essential. The assessment of assimilative and carrying capacity of the region plays the major and crucial role for sustainable development. The sustainable development encompasses the environment, economy and societal aspects in an interrelated manner. In order to assess the impact of environment, the three major components—air, water and land and their interactions need to analyzed. The comprehensive planning for sustainable environmental conditions depends on the quality of air, water and land and their long-term dynamics. Hence, an integrated environmental modeling and simulation approach is needed to encompass interactions among these three components (air, water and land) along with anthropogenic activities for sustainable resource management. The system dynamics modeling and simulation approach provides a platform to build an integrated environmental modeling of a region with various policy options to achieve the sustainable resource management. The temporal land resources monitoring and assessment using geospatial technology viz.; remote sensing (RS), geographical information system (GIS) and other collateral environmental data, pertaining to air and water and integrating them using system dynamic modeling and simulation gives the overall insight for past, present and future of the system. A study around the mining area in Rajasthan State, India for the same has been illustrated in the chapter.