- 319. 
(iv) Considering that remote sensing is an important tool in the inventory, 
planning and exploitation of natural resources; taking into account 
the efforts already made towards the establishment of the African 
remote Sensing Council and the Regional Training and User Assistance 
Centres, it is highly recommended that member States parti cipate 
fully in the African Remote Sensing Programme and provide both 
political and material support for the success of the programme .‘ 
The meeting was under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission 
for Africa and the Organisation of African Unity. It is hoped that the International 
Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing as part of its professional strategy 
will get itself involved in the implementation of the plan as it relates to photogrammetry 
and remote sensing, 
MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT 
  
6.1 Any discussion on professional strategy that does not give consideration to manpower 
development will not be realistic. It must be admitted that surveying as a profession 
does not offer the ease and comfort of life that other professions offer. It demands 
a combination of brain and brawn for knowledge of the physical sciences, and 
mathematics is a pre-requisite for training in surveying and the practice of the 
profession involves physical exertion. It may be said that the long treks associated with 
surveying had been minimised by the helicopter and other scientific development, 
El ectronic distance measurement has been adopted for measurements by tape, high 
precision theodolites have been introduced, photogrammetry had minim ised the 
perambulations associated with plane tabling. These are obvious evidence of improve- 
ment in the rigours and difficulties associated with the life of the surveyor, and the 
improvement will no doubt continue, Y oung men and women should be made to see 
these developments, What is more surveying offers a life of adventure which could 
hardly be obtained in any other profession, It is this type of life of adventure that 
has made the developed countries great, and the young men and women in the 
developing countries must develop and acquire this spirit of adventure if their countries 
are to remove the stigma of developing. It is imperative that institutions for training 
in photogrammetry and related disciplines must be provided. Facilities for training 
exist in the developed countries, and in some of these developed countries there is 
emphasis on surveying and mapping education. lt has been observed that in countries 
with a strong emphasis on surveying and mapping education there are entire 
institutions specialising solely in surveying and mapping education (e.g. in the U.K, 
France, the U.S.S.R., and China) or at least surveying and mapping facilities at 
institutions of higher education. The fact that surveying and mapping education has 
been placed on a high level on the organisation of those institutions means that 
surveying and mapping education in the above listed countries has been greatly 
strengthened, and hence the entire profession. The situation is different in the 
developing countries, particularly Africa where lack of capital (low GNP per capital), 
a considerably shorter life expectancy, and a relatively low literacy rate are factors 
that unfavourably affect the development of an efficient surveying and mapping 
manpower , 
Coker 7?