Programme Director
Dr Harold Annegarn, General Chair of IGARSS 2009
Distinguished guests and representatives
Ladies and gentlemen
On behalf of the government and the people of South Africa, I welcome you all to this important symposium.
Remote sensing is central to our lives today at the core of worldwide communications, global positioning systems, and data gathering on topics as vital as climate change and global warming. With the earth experiencing devastating natural disasters hurricanes, droughts, floods and heat waves, remote sensing is no longer merely useful, but has become crucial in ensuring our survival.
We need early warning systems that will allow us to plan and coordinate our efforts to counter the effects of climate change. In addition, we need to work together, as we're doing at this symposium, to optimise our response.
We know also that remote sensing, from satellite-borne platforms, provides a valuable, non-intrusive tool for mapping, monitoring, modelling and measuring the earth's resources. Downloaded satellite imagery provides a convenient means of data collection offering several unique advantages, such as, lower cost, speed, ease, and frequency with which space-borne imagery can be obtained.
As environmental issues are global in scope and cross international boundaries, satellite remote sensing is the only source of data that provides a global perspective that's consistent with the scale of the issues being investigated, particularly for climate change studies, observations. Operational remote sensing has evolved to the stage where end-users could obtain archived imagery of any desired geographic area, within a relatively short time ranging from a few hours to a few weeks compared to aerial surveys that may require several months.
Furthermore, this principle of archiving satellite imagery and using it downstream for environmental and resources analysis and management is not unique. In fact, it forms the basic foundation for many Earth observation systems, including the Group on Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and the South African Earth Observation Strategy, launched in 2007.
Flowing from the Strategy, the South African Environmental Observation Network has been established to bring better cohesion between research programmes locally and internationally, and has made good progress in ensuring that in-situ earth observation data is archived and accessible as a national asset for future generations.
The network has linked a number of environmental observatories and field stations. The observatories deal with areas such as water and water resources monitoring, land use and land cover, disturbance regimes like fires and droughts, biodiversity and human health and security.
In the same way that we witness increasingly effective co-ordination between satellite and ground-based sensors internationally, so we are seeing more effective sensor coordination on a national and continental level. With advances in undersea cables and fibre-optics technologies, it is now feasible to consider webs of sensors on all types of platforms with rapid access for observers. These technologies have been developed as sensor webs and sensor networks, which is a major focus of the GEO Data and Architecture Committee that South Africa currently has the honour of leading.
Ladies and gentlemen, apart from the technology, what we need is the capacity to collect, analyse and disseminate earth observation data. This capacity is being developed in no small part thanks to the Group on Earth Observation's Capacity Building Committee. Under this committee is GEONETCast, a global network of satellite-based data dissemination systems that provide space-based, airborne and in-situ data, metadata and products to users worldwide.
In Africa, the proposed African Resource Management Constellation is a step in the right direction. This is a continental initiative to provide earth observation imagery to facilitate the continent's response to drought, flooding, outbreaks of fire, water scarcity, and the spread of infectious diseases, the destruction of ecosystems, water degradation and air pollution. Long-term weather predictions will also greatly assist the agricultural sector to improve food security.
With space science and technology identified as a specific cluster in the African Union/ New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action, we hope that more African countries will commit to this and related initiatives.
In South Africa, our national Earth Observation Strategy coordinates all the earth observation activities of the government, science councils and academic institutions, among other agencies.
In January this year, the South African National Space Agency Bill was signed into law. It's anticipated that the agency will stimulate the country's capabilities in the innovative utilisation of space science and technology, serving as a central point for the co-ordination and promotion of all space-related activities in the country, including earth observation.
In March, South Africa's National Space Policy was launched by former Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa, to give direction to the country's space agenda. Through Stellenbosch University, we have been developing SumbandilaSat, a low earth orbiting satellite, the launch of which is planned for August 2009 from Russia.
The main objectives of this programme are to strengthen the technological capabilities and space resources that exist in South Africa, to develop capacity in satellite engineering, and to provide earth observation data for a wide range of applications.
The development of SumbandilaSat offers our country and region a number of advantages, including scientific and economic growth, and information to use for sustainable development, security and planning.
However, as Africa and South Africa progress, the world’s leading players in the advancement of earth-observation technologies and related environmental applications already have remote-sensing satellites covering all the Earth’s climatic zones.
In addition, their ground-based, air-based and ocean-based monitoring devices serve users by providing high quality observation data in areas as diverse as urban planning, adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, disaster reduction, disease control and humanitarian relief. Their sharing of this information will be crucial for Africa.
We appreciate the generosity of countries such as Brazil and the People's Republic of China for allowing the Satellite Application Centre of our Council for Scientific and Industrial Research to receive earth observation data free of charge from the China-Brazil Earth Resource Satellite 2B, and to distribute it to the rest of the African continent.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's my belief that proper monitoring of our planet will require the joint use of in-situ and remote-sensing techniques, and that both the developing and the developed world have contributions to make in this regard.
I hope that this symposium will be a resounding success, and that you will all enjoy your stay in Cape Town.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
13 July 2009
