OPERATIONAL 
IN 
APPLICATIONS OF REMOTE 
ASIA AND THE PACIFIC 
SENSING 
Bruce Forster 
Professor, School of Geomatic Engineering 
Director, Centre for Remote Sensing and GIS 
University of New South Wales 
Australia 
Special Session 
KEY WORDS: 
ABSTRACT: 
Developing_Countries, Application, Project. 
The Asia-Pacific region contains over half the world's population, and is one of the world's most 
physically and culturally diverse regions. 
and resource monitoring, and 
Remote sensing has been widely used for environmental 
sustainable development. 
The paper examines the operational 
applications of remote sensing in the region, the remote sensing resources available, and the region's 
training needs. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
The Asia-Pacific region contains over half the 
world's population but fortunately also contains 
the highest density of satellite remote sensing 
receiving stations. In the passed 20 years the 
world has undergone a revolution in the 
development and application of airborne and 
spaceborne remote sensing data. In the Asia and 
Pacific region remote sensing technology has 
become an increasingly powerful tool for 
environmental and resource monitoring, and 
sustainable development. This has led the 
larger countries of the region to develop, launch 
and acquire data from their own remote sensing 
systems, and other regional countries to become 
major users and developers of new application 
technology. 
This paper will examine some of the 
environmental and resource problems of the 
region, the operational remote sensing 
applications that are being developed and used 
to solve them, and the human resources required 
to support this work. 
2. THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION 
According to the United Nations the Asian- 
Pacific region stretches from Mongolia in the 
north to New Zealand in the south, and from the 
Cook Islands in the east to the Islamic Republic 
of Iran in the west. It includes the world's 
51 
largest and the third largest oceans (the Pacific 
and Indian Oceans), 23 per cent of its land 
surface, 57 per cent of its population, and the 
two most populous countries in the world, China 
and India. The population of the region 
increased by 20 per cent in the decade ending 
1990, and it is expected to increase a further 28 
per cent between 1990 and 2005, to reach about 
4 billion (ESCAP, 1993a). It includes 
developed, developing and severely 
underdeveloped countries, and the most diverse 
range of cultures and environments. For 
example although average per capita GNP in 
1991 was US$1,790, it varied from US$26,920 in 
Japan to US$180 in Bhutan and Nepal. About 78 
per cent live in areas where the per capita GNP 
is less than US$500 (ESCAP, 1993b). 
In 1990, the proportion of the population of 
Asia living in rural areas was 70 per cent, and 
of the Pacific, 27 per cent. However as there is a 
distinct migration trend towards the cities, it is 
expected that by 2010, 42 per cent of the 
population of the region will live in urban areas 
(ESCAP, 1993a). 
Thus it is very difficult to make generalisations 
about the problems and needs of the region. 
However, Murai (1991) considers, among the 
many problems faced by the region, that 
population explosion, deforestation, soil 
erosion, overgrazing, desertification and 
environmental pollution are major problems that 
can be addressed using remote sensing tools. 
The F.A.O., for example, reported that tropical 
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B6. Vienna 1996