Africa at zero cost
28 November 2007
The announcement made here today during the annual meeting of the Group on
Earth Observations (GEO), will empower governments and organisations in Africa
to use satellite imagery to monitor and respond to emerging natural disasters,
deforestation, desertification and drought, threats to agricultural production
and food security, and emerging health risks.
"This new service forms a major contribution to international efforts to
build the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. It will strengthen
sustainable development and risk management throughout Africa," said Zheng
Guoguang, administrator of the China Meteorological Administration. It will
also advance global co-operation towards achieving the full and open sharing of
earth observation data.
"Providing high-quality earth observation data at no charge is a crucial
first step. To ensure that decision makers in Africa can fully exploit this
data, we are also committed to providing image-processing software and
on-demand Geographic Information System (GIS) tools, together with training, to
all users who require it," said Gilberto Camara, Director-General of Brazil's
National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
Breaking the established pattern of single-country ownership of imagining
satellites, Brazil and China agreed in 1988 to build, launch and jointly run
remote-sensing earth observation satellites. The CBERS programme (pronounced
"syberz") now enables the two countries to produce data and images of their
huge national territories cost-effectively.
The third and most recent satellite in the series, CBERS-2B, was launched in
September 2007 (CBERS-3 and CBERS-4 are to be launched in 2010 and 2012,
respectively). CBERS-2B scans the entire planet over a 26-day period with three
different imaging cameras. It then transmits multi-spectral,
20-metre-resolution images and other data to three ground receiving stations in
China and one in Brazil.
The satellite also carries a transponder for collecting data from automatic
weather stations, river gauges and other ground-based observation platforms.
This is particularly helpful for obtaining data from remote regions such as
rain forests, mountains and lakes.
Brazil and China have signed memoranda of understanding with South Africa,
Spain and Italy for using ground stations to download and process CBERS imagery
and then distribute it cost-free throughout Africa via GEONETCast, a
data-dissemination system that has been established by Group on Earth
Observations (GEO), as well as through web-based distribution schemes.
The four African receiving stations are located in the Canary Islands
(operated by Spain); Hartebeesthoek, South Africa; and Malindi, Kenya and
Matera, Italy, both operated by Italy. The service will be fully operational by
early 2008.
"By increasing the number of users and applications benefiting from
satellites and other costly equipment, this initiative demonstrates the power
of global collaboration on earth observations. By expanding the market for
environmental data and thus their value, CBERS provides a positive signal to
potential investors in earth observations from both the public and private
sectors," said José Achache, director of the GEO Secretariat.
The first civilian remote-sensing satellite, Landsat-1, was launched by the
United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1972.
Today, over 60 earth observation satellites are scanning the planet with an
array of sophisticated monitoring instruments. Together with in-situ and
airborne monitors, the world's growing fleet of observation satellites is
revolutionising our scientific understanding of the earth system.
The GEO was established in 2005 after the World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD), the group of eight leading industrialised countries (G8)
and three ministerial Earth Observation Summits all called for improving
existing observation systems. It now boasts over 70 member countries and 46
participating organisations.
GEO is co-ordinating the construction of a Global Earth Observation System
of Systems (GEOSS) that will link together diverse monitoring networks,
instruments, databases and models and other decision-support tools.
GEOSS addresses nine priorities of critical importance to the future of the
human race. It aims to help us protect ourselves against natural and
human-induced disasters, understand the environmental sources of health
hazards, manage energy resources, respond to climate change and its impacts,
safeguard freshwater resources, improve weather forecasts, manage ecosystems,
promote sustainable agriculture, and conserve biodiversity.
For more information, please contact:
Michael Williams at the GEO Secretariat
Tel: 071 198 9591 (until Friday)
Tel: 022 730 8293
E-mail: mwilliams@geosec.org.
See also http://www.earthobservations.org.
Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
28 November 2007
Source: Department of Science and Technology (http://www.dst.gov.za/)
