ISPRS
2000
5. Agrometeorology and Crop Modelling
FAO has a long history of involvement with climate related
activities such, as agroclimatological studies in the 1960s
in areas where large agricultural developments were antic-
ipated, and the study on the prevalent effect of climate on
the variability of food supply and the estimate of food pro-
duction potential in developing countries. The results of
these major undertakings led to the elaboration of a gen-
eral methodology and the accumulation of a valuable set
of reference climatic datasets in FAO.
Currently, the main activities on agroclimatic databases
and agrometeorology, using data both from satellite and in
situ observations, include: (i) management of the climatic
database for about 25,000 stations world-wide (FAO-
CLIM); (ii) production of digital maps (at various levels)
based on the climatic database; (iii) compilation of a data-
base of African sub-national crop statistics; (iv) real-time
monitoring of food crop condition and yield forecasting, in
particular for African countries; (v) fulfilment of specific
requests which require the analysis of climatic data to be
integrated with socio-economic variables. Together with
ARTEMIS, AGROMET is providing essential value-added
analysis and related information products for FAO's oper-
ational GIEWS on Food and Agriculture.
GIS tools are used for geo-statistics and spatial interpola-
tion routines, such as transforming point value into inter-
polated surfaces. As the interpolated surfaces must repre-
sent the ground truth in great detail, several techniques are
used in order to "help" the interpolation of the selected
variable to obtain a continuous surface with the highest
resolution. To get this, remote sensing products like DEMs,
NDVIs, and CCDs are used.
6. GIS Database Development
Collection, storage and maintaining of various geophysical
data and global digital databases for environmental analysis
and sustainable agricultural development is a priority area
for FAO. It has so far developed a soil map of the world and
an agro-ecological zones map of the developing countries;
the continental shelf and fishing (statistics) areas of the
oceans; coastal lowlands in the developing countries. Sev-
eral pilot GIS databases have also been developed to carry
out evaluation of marine resources, integrated terrain unit
and water basins study in Africa.
A number of GIS analysis and applications projects have
also been implemented. These mainly include: estimation of
available arable lands for the major FAO study Agriculture
Towards 2010; Africa, South and Central America inland
aquaculture site suitability analysis for fish farming potential;
soil suitability analysis studies for various crops in Africa;
potential food self-sufficiency at high and low input levels;
dominant land resources types map for Africa; nutrition Pro-
files map; fish distribution maps for the Mediterranean;
World Food Summit support maps. Currently, remote sens-
ing and GIS technology have also been used for Food Inse-
curity and Vulnerability and Poverty Mapping in FAO, in co-
operation with several other agencies.
FAO envisages the increasing use of Global Positioning
Systems (GPS) in surveys and the integration of remote
sensing data into GIS-based land resource information
systems. FAO is considering using remote sensing to
assess and monitor the progress of soil and water conser-
vation works carried out in the field within the framework
of national programmes assisted by the World Food Pro-
gramme (WFP).
7T. Technical Support for Remote Sensing and Informa-
tion Management at National Level
In addition to global and regional projects, FAO is currently
executing, or providing technical backstopping for, to
some sixty field projects with a major component of
remote sensing, GIS and information management sys-
tems in more than fifty developing countries covering
Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Central
and Eastern Europe. FAO has recently also been actively
involved in developing and field testing several new
remote sensing methodologies through pilot projects in a
number of countries, including: shrimp farms inventory
and monitoring in Sri Lanka and wetlands mapping and
assessment in Zambia by using SAR data from the Euro-
pean Radar Satellite and ground water exploration in the
Syrian Arab Republic using satellite remote sensing com-
bined with GIS technology. In economies in transition, FAO
offers advice on the use of remote sensing and GIS in
planning and implementing agricultural land reform and in
assessing and monitoring environmental damage. At pres-
ent, such assistance is being provided to Albania, Czech
Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.
From a vision to missions: Digital Earth and its poten-
tial impact on agriculture and sustainable
development
1. Digital Earth
Through space observation systems, intensive in-situ meas-
urements and sampling in strategically selected locations,
and a wide range of modelling techniques, the understand-
ing by scientific communities world-wide of the Earth sys-
tem, in particular, how the climate systems and the big
global cycles such as carbon and water cycles, function,
has made dramatic progress in the past decade. For a bet-
ter scientific understanding of the background noise of sus-
tainability- the environment, global changes and associated
driving forces, as well as their potential impact on sustain-
ability, more concerted efforts will be required for systematic
observation of the Earth system: atmosphere, geosphere
and biosphere, including in particular the various ecosys-
tems. Such an effort is also necessary for constant investi-
gation into interactions between human and various com-
ponents of the Earth system. Traditional means for
collecting data and information about the Earth environment
face a seriousl challenge, hence there is a shift of paradigm
on the perception of the Earth system.
Advances in information and digital communication tech-
nology, along with space technology, including satellite
remote sensing and geographic information systems cou-
pled with wide range of modelling and decision-support
tools could provide new opportunities for rediscovering
the Earth through a digital perspective. Currently, there are
some fifty Earth observation satellites in operation, collect-
ing various data about the Earth environment and a few
hundred communication satellites providing a global cov-
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| Archives of Photogrammerty and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part A. Amsterdam 2000.
