Accomplishing sustainable development in Southern Kurdistan using geoinformatics: an overview

Southern Kurdistan is experiencing a rapid rate of development, which is often associated with increased industrialization, population growth, economic development and urbanization. These events generally lead to continuous degradation of the environment and natural resources i.e. water, soil, air, natural habitats and biological diversity. These in turn, if not managed, could eventually slow down and threaten the pace of economic development. Consequently, there is a real need to understand and attempt to manage these events. This paper argues that the specific conditions in southern Kurdistan, the nature and unavailability of reliable information for decision making necessitates the use of Geoinformatics as an effective tool to sensibly utilise and conserve the environment and natural resources whilst furthering the development process. An overview of the likely environmental problems in Southern Kurdistan and the possible usage of Geoinformatics for achieving sustainable development has been discussed.