forests are being depleted at a rate of 11.5
million hectares per year. According to Rao
(1991) the countries of the region share acute
environmental problems due to indiscriminate
exploitation of natural resources as a result of a
growing demand for food, drinking water, energy
and pressure on land resources. Deforestation,
over irrigation and overgrazing have caused
large areas of land to be degraded by erosion ,
increased salinity, waterlogging or
desertification. In India and Vietnam, for
example, 50 per cent of the land has been
degraded. Although many countries have begun
to implement programmes to reduce erosion, the
problem remains serious and widespread (FAO,
1989).
The vast expanse of tropical ocean, the climate
and the geological history of the region
predispose it to natural hazards. Typical of
these are typhoons and cyclones, storm surges
and floods, bushfires and drought, tsunami,
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. However
again these are differentially distributed
throughout the region. For example, of the 30 or
so major floods worldwide each year, 80 per cent
of the victims live in Bangladesh, China and
India (ESCAP, 1993c). Forest fires severely
affect Indonesia and Australia, while
earthquakes and volcanic activity affect an arc
stretching from New Zealand to Japan, the ring
of fire.
A major problem common to many countries of
the region is that rapid economic development is
resulting in environment and resource
depletion, an overtaxed physical and social
infrastructure and the exponential growth of
cities due to urban migration and rapidly
expanding populations. Currently economic
growth in Asia is of the order of 8 per cent per
annum compared with only 2 per cent for the
whole world. It is predicted that many cities of
this region will have doubled their population
in the 20 years to the year 2000, for example
Shanghai, 13.4 to 22 million, Jakarta, 7.3 to 16
million, Manila, 5.7 to 12 million, and Bangkok,
4.9 to 11 million, (Graetz et al, 1992). In the
same time period India may have joined China as
the second country to have a billion plus
population.
Rapid urbanisation has created or exacerbated
many significant problems in the region,
including shortage of fresh water, inadequate
waste management and mass public transport,
and widespread pollution. Meeting the minimal
requirements of the rapidly growing population
has often driven decision makers to accelerate
the pace of economic development with
ecologically unsound decisions (Rao, 1991).
52
Strong growth in per capita use of energy, due to
rapid economic development, has also
contributed to an increase in greenhouse gas
emissions and acid rains (ESCAP, 1994).
With the new laws of the sea soon to come into
operation countries such as Australia and
Indonesia will control vast areas of ocean, and
will need to take on the huge task of
environmentally managing and controlling these
areas. Many Pacific island countries will
control greater proportions of ocean than they
will of land.
3. REMOTE SENSING APPLICATIONS
To monitor, manage and overcome these problems
countries of the region are increasingly turning
to remote sensing tools (and GIS) to provide
appropriate answers. This is best illustrated by
an analysis of the papers published in the
Asian-Pacific Remote Sensing Journal over the
past five years. The journal is published by the
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and
the Pacific (ESCAP, United Nations) through its
Regional Remote Sensing Programme. While
remote sensing specialists of the region publish
there application results in a number of
international and national journals, it is
suggested that those published in the Asian-
Pacific Remote Sensing Journal will provide a
representative sample allowing an analysis of
the different applications and their relative
importance.
The papers from 1991 to 1995 were categorised
according to application type and also according
to sub-regional areas. These sub-regional areas
were considered to be North and East Asia (
which included papers from China, Japan,
Mongolia, Korea), South East Asia (Indonesia,
Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines,
Singapore, Myanmar), Australasia and Oceania
(Australia New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji),
South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal,
Sri Lanka) and West Asia (Iran, Saudi Arabia).
Table 1 lists the papers from each region by
application areas given as a percentage of total
papers from that region.
In considering the table it should be recognised
that the greatest sample of papers came from the
South Asia and South East Asia sub-regions with
the other sub-regions being under represented,,
nevertheless some conclusions can be drawn for
all sub-regions. In the Australasian and
Oceania sub-region it can be seen that the
greatest percentage of papers were in ocean and
near coastal water studies as would be expected
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B6. Vienna 1996
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