Perspective on needs and problems in Remote Sensing development in the Escap Region
He Changchui
ESCAP/UNDP Regional Remote Sensing Programme
UN/ESCAP, Bangkok, Thailand
Abstract
This paper reviewed the general status of Remote Sensing development in the ESCAP region and presented a perspective on regional needs and problems encountered by regional countries in the area of Remote Sensing development and applications. The paper, having carefully analyzed the situation, gave some thoughts on future regional Remote Sensing cooperation in terms of education and training, methodology developments, information exchange and national infrastructure building.
1. A Philosophical View
Modern science and technology is reaching the point where we are able to consider the earth as a system. With Remote Sensing technology we can provide data about the entire earth through space-borne instruments. These data can be processed to derive useful information on the earth's natural resources and its environment, directly relevant for development planning, which is, in many parts of the world, very much dependent on efficient management of the earth's resource and environment. Notwithstanding that the technological opportunities for information gathering have increased exponentially in one parts of the world, other parts of the world consider these opportunities to be miracles and are not necessarily able to share in the benefits from this phenomenal growth. One of the key problems among others, leading to this uneven distribution of the merits of modern science and technology lies with the mechanism for technology transfer and adaptation for development which is a complex process always needful of a systems approach.
The perspective on regional needs and problems in Remote Sensing developments presented herein shows that the greatest opportunities for the effective use of Remote Sensing are to assist in the developing countries, where the information environment has remained persistently problematic in the process of decision making.
