Statement by Lawrence W. Fritz
President
International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
Mr. Chairman and Distinguished Delegates,
The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) is a non governmental organization (NGO) composed of 167 member societies and organizations representing 103 countries and regions. ISPRS is devoted to the development of international cooperation for the advancement of knowledge, research, development, and education in the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences, and to their integration and applications in order to contribute to the well being of humanity and the sustainability of the environment. ISMS represents the international remote sensing community through its permanent observer status with the COPUOS and through joint activities with OOSA. It is the international "Information from Imagery" society.
The ISPRS through its International Policy Advisory Committee believes that the following issues should be given significant attention in the Earth observation discussions at UNISPACE III.
First is Sustainable Earth Observation
In many ways Earth observation is still at a research and development phase. There is a growing demand for Earth observation to make a transition to operational status and it has been achieved for meteorological information products but not yet for other imagery-based products. The private sector recognizes the growing demand and is responding with several satellite observing systems to make high resolution imagery commercially available on a near-real-time basis. In fact, we may well see the first successful commercial high resolution Earth observation satellite launched before the end of August this year. In all sectors, the Earth observation community needs to move out of the research and development phase providing data and into an operational and commercial basis with sustainable systems for providing information and thus use the remarkable capabilities provided from development of space technologies. This requires a continuous process of inputs from the user and scientific community into operational systems.
There is no doubt that the UN can be a very valuable forum to stimulate the examination of economically viable and effective ways to develop operational Earth observation systems which provide continuity of data and information supply, allow scientific and technological innovation, respect the ambitions of the public and the private sectors, and encompass the needs and aspirations of the less economically developed countries.
A clearer legislative environment at national and international levels could well assist greater economic maturity of the Earth observation sector. That is, The key is to harness the energies of the public and private sectors by improved dialogue, unambiguous "Open Skies" policies, and financial commitment to process information products and service for those in need and who cannot afford to do so. The ISPRS is willing to help facilitate the dialogue. ISMShas a current initiative with CEOS to promote the formation of an Earth Observation Community Forum for open discussions of issues surfaced by private and public sector interests. We will also convene follow-up conferences on relevant issues resulting from this UNISPACE Conference.
Issue two is Non-discriminatory access;
A key issue in Principle XII of the UN Principles on Remote Sensing is non-discriminatory access. Are all UN member states really empowered to put this principle into practice? In particular, can the less economically developed countries use their right to gain access to information about their territories which have been sensed by Earth observation systems of other countries and organizations? This question now comes into sharper focus with the development of Earth observation systems with a pixel sizes smaller than one meter.
Non-discriminatory access in general means treating individual cases from the same class equally, but this is far from a full and clear definition. Data access is beneficial but the real commercial value of the imagery is access to the derivable 'analyzed' information. Definitional work by the COPUOS on the meaning of non-discriminatory access is encouraged to help clarify areas of potential conflict in Earth observation.
Issue three is Support to Developing Countries;
For the less economically developed countries to gain full advantage of Earth observation it is imperative for them to understand that they too must invest in capacity building. They can and should contribute to advancements in space technology, but their greatest benefits will accrue from creating their own capability to exploit remote sensing imagery to address their national and local needs. The UN Space Applications Program has been successful in developing regional centers to build capacity at a local level as, for example, in India, Nigeria and Morocco. But it is imperative for the governments in these regions to carefully select competent yet loyal scientists to bring this knowledge back to assist their home country. These capacity building initiatives should be enhanced to assist countries to take better advantage of the nondiscriminatory UN Principle XII. That is, by technical support to enable indigenous exploitation of satellite imagery, including access to the World Wide Web, and by institutional support, including the recognition of the value of sustainable, operational Earth observation information for their locale and country.