In the past few decades GIS and Remote Sensing have been increasingly applied to hydrology, water resources and the environment. To review and report the advancements of GIS and Remote Sensing application in these areas and to share the experiences of scientists, engineers, NGOs and policy makers across the globe, the International Conference of GIS and Remote Sensing in Hydrology, Water Resources and Environment (ICGRSHWE) was jointly organized at the Three Gorges Dam construction site in China from 16 to 19 September 2003 by Sun Yat-Sen University, Wuhan University and the Free University of Brussels. IAHS and other national and international bodies sponsored this conference.

The conference received more than 400 abstracts and 120 papers were presented orally. This book includes 50 papers selected from the oral presentations that are organized into six sections as:

• Flood Forecasting
• Runoff Simulation
• Hydrologic Changes
• Water Resources Management
• Environmental Modelling
• Data Observation and Measurement

Two keynote presentations: "Distributed hydrologic modelling for flood forecasting" by Baxter Vieux, and "Weather radar technology and future developments" by Ian Cluckie, are the first two papers. It is hoped that this volume will provide readers with an overview of the application and development of state-of-the-art GIS and remote sensing in hydrology, water resources and environment.

One thing that needs mentioning is that SARS, a serious infectious disease prevailing in China and other countries in the first half of 2003, seriously affected both the conference organization and participants’ plans for their trip to it. Fortunately SARS was quickly under control and most of the authors attended the conference, making the conference a great success.

The interest and financial support from the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, funding no. 50179019, 50310310328) is greatly appreciated. The editors would also thank those who helped make this publication possible.