SPACE TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC: ISSUES 

E/ESCAP/ENR/SOSA(2)/2

A. Introduction 
B. Background 
C. Challenges facing the region 
D. Issues pertaining to space technology developments 

1. Integrated Earth observation and spatial information 
2. Space communication and information infrastructure 

1. National capacity building and regional capability strengthening 
2. Priority identification and strategy formulation 

A. Introduction

1. The first Ministerial Conference on Space Applications for Development in Asia and the Pacific was organized by ESCAP at Beijing from 19 to 24 September 1994. The Conference adopted the Beijing Declaration on Space Technology Applications for Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific, which endorsed the Strategy for Regional Cooperation in Space Applications for Sustainable Development and the Action Plan on Space Applications for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific. The Conference launched the Regional Space Applications Programme for Sustainable Development (RESAP) to work towards the realization of the goals set forth in the Strategy and Action Plan.

2. The present document examines the major issues and trends associated with the development and applications of space technology for the solution of problems confronting the region, in the context of implementing the RESAP programme instituted following the first Ministerial Conference.

B. Background

3. Much of the Asian and Pacific region is burdened with overpopulation and illiteracy, unemployment and associated poverty, dismal agricultural productivity, poor infrastructure, excessive depletion of natural resources, rapid environmental degradation and recurring natural disasters.

4. Practical space technology applications offer a cost-effective means of addressing many (but not all) of these difficulties, especially through the provision of fundamental information infrastructure and essential services, and through social impact in the form of wealth creation via industrial development and improved productivity in natural resource management.

5. For various reasons, the region to date has not yet fully exploited the benefits of space technology in relation to sustainable development. Some of the main reasons, as highlighted in the proceedings of the first Ministerial Conference,⁽¹⁾ are summarized below:

(a) Lack of awareness and understanding by planners, decision makers and users about the potential benefits of space technology in development planning;

(b) The fragmented nature of the user community, which often succumbs to "technology push" rather than "application pull", leading to import of technology inappropriate to the social setting;

(c) A deficient institutional framework, inadequate involvement of the private sector and lack of trained personnel; in particular, many countries lack a critical mass of trained personnel and of resources to implement confidently and successfully the desired space technology projects on their own account.

6. In the United States of America, Europe and a few countries in the region, space technology and its applications have made impressive advances in the last few years. A major concern in the region is how to make the best use of the considerable existing (but unequally distributed) capability and to apply it more evenly to promote regionwide economic growth and collective social benefit. It becomes all the more important as several countries in the region face severe economic difficulties at the waning of the twentieth century and cannot afford to have unnecessary duplication and waste of limited resources in their anxiety to leapfrog in space technology applications. This is particularly important in the countries that have experienced a significant devaluation of their currencies. This document addresses in some detail related key issues, taking into account the technological trends, opportunities and challenges of the new millennium.

C. Challenges facing the region

8. More than 70 per cent of the population in the region rely on agriculture, primarily depending on traditional farming practices. The agricultural production scenario is not encouraging, with shrinking per capita arable land; non-optimal management of land and water resources; degradation of the physical environment, deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, soil salinity and alkalinity; and inadequate technological and financial inputs. Recent economic setbacks have resulted in massive job losses and reduced production in many parts of the region.

9. The availability of fresh water is another major problem, aggravated further by its uneven distribution as a result of increasing demands from agriculture and industry. Water management is a crucial issue, particularly in the arid tropics in the region where the precipitation occurs on fewer than 100 days a year and most of it is wasted as evaporation and run-off. Excessive groundwater mining in many drought-prone areas in the region has resulted in sinking groundwater tables. Industrial effluents and inadequately treated sewage have been degrading groundwater quality. Easy access to safe drinking water is still a distant dream in many villages in the developing countries.

10. Natural disasters such as cyclones, floods and drought cause enormous damage and dislocation. Most developing countries in the region suffer greatly from these disasters. The region is also susceptible to landslides, forest fires, earthquakes, tsunamis and volcano eruptions. The vulnerability of the region to these hazards cannot be overemphasized, particularly with increased concentrations of human settlements in marginal lands and disaster-prone areas.

11. Large-scale illiteracy, particularly among women, is another area of continued concern in the region, with the predominant proportion of people living in dispersed, remote, rural areas. Lack of resources continues to be the prime impediment to developing countries in overcoming this fundamental disadvantage

12. Developmental activities, including intensive agriculture and expanding industries, have exerted tremendous pressure on the natural environment. Strong growth in per capita use of energy and motor vehicles has resulted in increased greenhouse gas emissions and atmospheric pollution. Global warming and the associated serious impacts on climate, health and agriculture as a result of changes in the monsoon circulation, rainfall and sea level, inter alia, are likely to have dire consequences for the region in the next few decades.

13. For these reasons, the major challenge facing the region is to generate sustainable economic growth sufficient to feed and employ the increasing population without endangering the ecology and environment. Any framework for sustainable development at national and regional levels should therefore take an integrated view, making effective use of frontier technologies such as space technology, biotechnology and information technology as envisaged in Agenda 21 adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

D. Issues pertaining to space technology developments

1. Integrated Earth observation and spatial information

16. Satellite remote sensing and meteorology, together with geographic information systems (GIS), offer an integrated, synoptic view of natural resources and the environment. The region remains one of the world's fastest in acquiring Earth observation technology and has many satellite data reception stations with overlapping coverage. Nevertheless, some countries, particularly island nations of the Pacific, are still not properly serviced by these Earth-observing techniques.

17. Issues related to data sources, their utilization, and related data policy, coverage difficulties, and commercialization aspects, enumerated during the first Ministerial Conference,⁽²⁾ remain mostly unchanged. Data from many satellites are available with varying data rates and formats. Questions of standardization, inter-sensor calibration and large-scale investment in terms of financial and human resources still remain, as do policy issues on data acquisition, data pricing and archival storage and retrieval owing to ever-changing technology and lack of standardization. Several issues still need to be addressed in a concerted manner such as questions on high-bandwidth electronic data networks, data repositories, directories and appropriate tools for organizing them at regional level to provide convenient access and interoperability between different systems for data integration and for translation, say, between different classification schemes and map scales, although many issues and potential solutions are now better understood as a result of RESAP activities.

18. While many projects have been carried out in the region using remote sensing and GIS techniques, most have been on a pilot or demonstration scale and very few were large-scale operational approaches. Integrating these applications to meet the national developmental needs in an operational environment continues to be a major issue. The Integrated Mission for Sustainable Development being carried out in India is one of the few examples in which the benefit of this integrated approach has been operationally demonstrated.

19. Questions related to the commercialization of remote sensing have assumed significance in recent times, with more private satellite operators entering the market and extending the technical capabilities of their products. However, the associated access fees and data product prices are perceived to be high, especially for research applications. The advent of advanced satellites with higher spatial, spectral and radiometric resolution throws further challenges to the research community. More sophisticated image analysis procedures need to be developed to fully explore the potential of information from these high-resolution satellites.

20. Satellite-based positioning systems (SPS) started as defence technologies but have moved into diverse application areas such as transportation, geodesy and land surveying, meteorology, Earth science, atmospheric sounding, farming, timing and telecommunications. Access to the operational United States Global Positioning System and the Global Navigation Satellite System of the Russian Federation, as well as the planned European Global Navigation Satellite System, enables precise position determination, which can be usefully integrated with Earth observation data. However, various related technical and policy issues such as datum standardization aspects and the effect of SPS use on sovereignty and domestic laws continue to be raised. Ultimately, the benefits of SPS as a global standard for satellite-based navigation and the multitude of evolving applications will propel policy considerations. The principal problem in dealing with global SPS issues is the absence of a single forum or organization able to address the full range of concerns.

21. The lack of infrastructure and adequately trained personnel and the influence of security issues on map availability continue to limit the effective use of remote sensing and GIS capability in an operational environment. An associated problem is identifying regionally acceptable standards for GIS. These issues need to be addressed in a prioritized manner, as access to advanced remote sensing satellites, appropriately integrated with accurate position information from satellites and with GIS and digital photogrammetry techniques, will help to generate and update large-scale maps with the accuracy necessary for natural resource and development planning activities such as precision farming.

22. There are still no uniform standards to evaluate quantitatively the costs and benefits of remote sensing. At the same time, it is recognized that the benefits of remote sensing in many cases are intangible, perceptible only in the long term and often difficult to quantify. Many planners in the region intuitively understand the role of remote sensing in developmental planning but are unable to document fully the costs and benefits of the technology. Further regional studies may be required to convince planners and policy makers of the economic benefit of using integrated remote sensing inputs in their development planning.

23. Globally, extensive studies are being conducted to understand the potential impacts of anthropogenic influences on the climate system. Various modelling efforts attempt to depict the Earth's climate as a fully coupled system to predict the climate accurately both on the seasonal to inter-annual timescales and on the decadal scales. There are still many uncertainties that limit the ability to predict future climate changes accurately. Research on related topics, investigating the complex interplay of various parameters, including the feedback associated with terrestrial and marine ecosystem changes, is essential to reduce these uncertainties. These efforts rely greatly on data derived from Earth observation satellites. The Asian and Pacific region, with a large population living in fragile coastal zones, should take note of these emerging studies and provide meaningful opportunities for researchers to participate in these frontier areas of research.

24. The coming years will see more advanced satellite instruments being launched for the study of the global ecology and environment. Satellite Earth observations will advance from the current mapping, algorithm development and modelling efforts to derive related geophysical parameters for operational applications. These applications will require contributions from many different satellite platforms as well as in situ systems. Optimal integration of these observations requires careful planning by national and international organizations to derive greater benefits from both the current and the planned observing systems and to address common problems of concern. Globally, this concern has led to broader collaborative arrangements towards developing an Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS) under the IGOS Partnership initiative by various international agencies, such as the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, the International Group of Funding Agencies for Global Change Research, the Sponsors Group for the Global Observing Systems, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme and the World Climate Research Programme. The region, with its own multitude of problems affecting sustainable development planning, should take note of this evolving strategy and define a common vision to derive maximum benefits.
 

2. Space communication and information infrastructure

26. Outstanding issues related to equitable access to geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) have been further complicated with the advent of communication satellite constellations in the low Earth orbits (LEO) and medium Earth orbits (MEO) during the last few years. Procedures for registration and clearance with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) regarding the frequency and orbital assignments are perceived to be restrictive by many developing countries and cumbersome by many developed countries. Spectrum limitation is a major difficulty, despite the technological progress made, including digital compression techniques. These complex issues call for flexible restructuring of current procedures with international understanding, particularly considering that in the coming years many more satellites are planned for the region by national, regional and global players.

27. The earlier notion that Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol would not work over satellites has been laid to rest and both Inmarsat and Panamsat have offered viable Internet backbone services in the region. The extent of congestion in traditional Internet terrestrial routes has made objections to Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol over satellites less tenable.

28. The Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellites (GMPCS) services from various satellite constellations in LEO/MEO/GEO orbits in both narrow band (for example, Iridium and Globalstar) and broad band (Celestri, Teledesic, Spaceway and Skybridge) are expected to be operational in the next few years. Unresolved technical issues include transmission delays, coverage area, complexity in handset design and bandwidth considerations for multimedia applications. For developing countries, access to an inexpensive broad-bandwidth backbone will become an essential requirement in the coming years. The question whether a single system providing both the narrow and the broadband services would have been more cost-effective than many separate systems remains unanswered, particularly in the context of the vast investment that the service providers, as well as the countries, have to incur. A major difficulty for the developing countries is to make appropriate technological judgements for investment purposes. Recent developments are partly gadget-centric, with the underlying issues and commercial risks often not understood or appreciated by policy makers and investors.

29. With the availability of operational GMPCS services, there are apprehensions that satellite operators will bypass national terrestrial networks in order to steer revenue away from the incumbent countries. This issue is a sensitive matter. While developed countries with appropriate terrestrial infrastructure may take a lenient view of the call-bypass issue, provided that the tariffs remain in their favour, the developing countries fear that their revenue will be affected adversely. Hence, there is a need to integrate GMPCS appropriately with existing communication infrastructure in these countries.

30. The global nature of GMPCS, the absence of appropriate national regulatory frameworks, and standardization and system intercompatibility issues prompted ITU to coordinate a multinational framework intended to facilitate the operation of duly authorized, type-approved GMPCS terminals and handsets. ITU has also initiated discussions on various radio transmission technology proposals for the implementation of common third-generation mobile systems, such as the International Mobile Telecommunications 2000 (IMT-2000). This is an initiative intended to provide wireless access to the global telecommunication infrastructure through both satellite and terrestrial systems, serving fixed and mobile users in public and private networks. Under the IMT-2000 model, common standardized flexible platforms are planned which will meet the basic needs of major public, private, fixed and mobile markets around the world. Countries in the region have to take note of these developments and ensure appropriate policy formulation for global roaming capability.

31. In the coming years, the worldwide telecommunications and information industry will probably continue to undergo massive restructuring towards privatization. Deregulation policies will largely drive the development of infrastructure, and a more proactive role by decision makers in the countries in the region may be needed to minimize the potential negative impact of these changes. There are apprehensions about whether remote areas run the risk of being omitted from regional or national communication networks, because private investment tends to be focused in urban areas, which provide more profit margin. Issues relating to rural connectivity, such as the "last mile problem" of linking sparse remote villages with the mainstream and the general hesitation to invest in rural communication services because of their unattractive commercial prospects, still remain largely unaddressed. Governments need to take cognizance of the increasing role that satellite communication could play in addressing the requirements of remote rural areas. In the long term, non-commercial benefits could far exceed the direct costs involved and result in a vibrant national development without the debilitating effects of rural poverty, general social inequity and increased urban migration.

32. Continued growth of satellite communication services depends on the corresponding development on the ground to sustain the new services. One important consideration for the innovative use of satellite communications for rural education services is the unavailability of language- and culture-specific ground software. Not much work has been done in this important area of satellite-based education services in many countries, although some countries like China and India have successfully demonstrated this capability.

33. Very small aperture terminal (VSAT) networks, although highly useful in telecommunications and broadcasting, have not grown as rapidly as cellular phones and the Internet. The major reason is regulatory restrictions on international cross-border services. Concerns for national sovereignty, fears over lack of control and recouping existing infrastructure investments are proving to be serious limitations to VSAT growth.

34. Another issue limiting the growth of VSATs is licence fees. At present, there is no standardization in terms of either deregulation or licensing of VSATs. It is said that while US$110 per month can cover everything from VSAT, hub, backhaul and space segment to service and maintenance in the United States, it will barely cover the licence fee in certain countries in the region.

35. Different regulatory regimes prevail in the region, depending on the mandated role of the sector and the socio-political background of the country. Generally, broadcasting is subject to more rigid control than the information technology industry, considering its mass appeal, penetration capability and the influence that it could exercise on the people. Convergence of broadcasting, telecommunication and information technologies will call for corresponding changes in policy formulation in countries of the region, possibly necessitating revised institutional arrangements at national and regional levels. Issues such as spectrum reallocation, cross-sector ownership limits, equipment and transmission standards are yet to be fully resolved at national and multilateral levels.

36. Globally, access to the broadband backbone is a basic driving force for an array of information technologies and services. It has presented new opportunities for sharing integrated Earth observation information for sustainable developmental applications. Most of the Earth observation data sets needed for addressing sustainable development issues require regional and global cooperation. The most important aspect of the evolving information systems for data exchange, such as the International Directory Network, the Global Observation Information Network and the Global Resource Information Database, is their information-handling capability, allowing ingestion of data of different origin, content and format, and providing the output in a value-added, user-friendly format. A regional operational infrastructure is needed, including an acceptable network backbone, standards and common data sets. The newly established Asia-Pacific Advanced Network could provide a basis for an operational Earth and space information network for the region.

37. Information infrastructure is of critical importance for electronic commerce, research, education and a host of other equally important value-added services, not to mention the spatial information services for natural resources and environment management. While it is possible that communication networks dedicated to space-based data may not be needed, the countries in the region should plan to build these specialized information services synergistically with information infrastructure being developed for wider purposes.

E. Integrating space technology applications with development planning

1. National capacity building and regional capability-strengthening  

40. Space-based information systems provide a critical, multi-purpose avenue for integrating and evaluating available data in order to arrive at more objective and well-informed planning decisions for sustainable development purposes, especially in the areas of natural resource accounting, environment monitoring, disaster management, communication and energy sectors.

41. The pace of technological change compounds concerns about the ability of the countries in the region to absorb and harness the full potential of space technology. Countries adopt different strategies for the acquisition, adaptation and assimilation of space technology, depending on their political and socio-economic conditions and the stage of technology development itself. Any effective technology transfer should address total system knowledge in the sense of "capability transfer" and hence encompass human resources development and local capacity-building. However, this ideal situation has not been achieved in many countries for various reasons, such as limited funding capability, lack of participation by local industry owing to economy-of-scale considerations, lack of educational and training facilities, and aggressive commercial campaigns that often result in inappropriate technological choices. Lastly, restrictions related to intellectual property and technology transfer have at times led to the denial of technology access, as well as to non-availability of spare parts and services for the maintenance of imported equipment. As envisaged in Agenda 21, there is a need to explore the concept of assured access to environmentally sound technologies in their relation to intellectual property rights with a view to developing effective responses to the needs of developing countries.

42. Most countries do not have an operational mechanism to provide linkages between the decision makers and science and technology; nor do they have the research and development infrastructure to ensure the appropriateness of the technology being imported. There are even cases of a lack of awareness about the existing local capability in the countries themselves because multiple agencies are coordinating developmental activities. Often, the short-term strategy of importing a technology adversely affects the local research and development that are essential for establishing long-term endogenous capability, and it also isolates these activities from the mainstream of the development process.

43. It is important to ensure that the benefits from space technology do not merely remain in the research domain, but are fully integrated into the national development plans. Enmeshing short-term goals to provide some visible, demonstrable capability for achieving desired results to build necessary confidence and support, within a framework of building a gradual technology capability and industrial back-up as a long-term objective, is the need of the hour. Integrating space technology inputs operationally into development planning calls for conscious efforts and the adoption of an appropriate policy framework in the countries themselves.

44. A shortage of well-trained experts in space technology applications is still a problem in the region. A related issue is the non-utilization of proficiency acquired because of the inappropriate placement of trained personnel on return from training, or the lack of appropriate institutional infrastructure to support further study or work, resulting in large-scale turnover and brain drain. Most of the developing countries are unable to equip the universities with the latest facilities, find appropriate tutors or even provide up-to-date technical and scientific journals. While limited funding and non-availability of expertise are the major reasons that countries find it difficult to introduce studies related to space technology and hands-on training, the existing capacity in the few reputed institutions in the region is inadequate to meet the needs of the region.

45. The formulation of a policy framework conducive to government-industry partnerships presents both opportunities and challenges to the region, where most space activities are government-funded. Private enterprise offers increased and expanded access to the latest technological expertise by bringing in more competition and thus increased efficiency and effectiveness. There is, hence, a need to ensure increased participation from the private sector industries in the effective utilization of space technology applications. It should be recognized that the commercial objectives of private industry and the governmental expectations of services being rendered as public good need not be incompatible.

46. Establishing an effective, closer partnership between the government, industry and academia is an essential ingredient to develop endogenous capability in the region. Industry should increasingly sponsor research in academic institutions and absorb the end results for operationalization. Further, inclusion of non-governmental organizations and voluntary agencies in the partnership could enhance popular participation in programme implementation and thus provide the necessary interface with society at large and contribute to providing solutions that are socially relevant and culturally acceptable. It also provides a means of feedback to the decision makers and planners to make appropriate adjustments.
 

2. Priority identification  and strategy formulation 

48. Accordingly, the region needs to shift gradually from the current piecemeal project approach to a longer-term, systematic, market-oriented and region-based strategy for exploiting space technology applications for sustainable development.

F. Conclusions

50. Practical space technology applications offer a cost-effective means of addressing many (but not all) of these difficulties, especially through the provision of fundamental information infrastructure and essential services and through the social impact of wealth creation via industrial development and improved productivity in natural resource management.

51. While the region has made significant progress in space technology applications since the first Ministerial Conference, there are still outstanding issues facing the region, such as (a) a lack of full awareness of the potential of space technology among planners and administrators, (b) a deficient institutional framework and lack of assured financial support, (c) the lack of a "critical mass" of trained personnel and resources, (d) inadequate private sector industry and academic involvement and (e) a lack of appropriate regional institutional arrangements for pooling of resources, personnel and accumulated experience, and for efficient consideration of policy issues in an operational environment.

52. The new millennium will see the evolution of a seamless global information infrastructure, based on sets of interconnected national and regional information infrastructures, efficiently integrating terrestrial networks with information superhighways of GEO and LEO networks. Satellite technology applications will become integrated with other conventional services on these information superhighways and will be offered to the users at their desks. Hence, appropriate integrated policy formulation will be an essential requirement of the countries in the region to tap the full potential of this technology fusion.

53. As the new millennium dawns, the keyword in space applications will be "integration". Integrating the regional efforts to make effective use of the integrated space technologies for taking an integrated view of Earth, using them as a system for sustainable development planning, will be the larger concern of the region. Hence, at the regional level, in the long run, there is a need to establish a meaningful, cooperative, self-sustaining institutional mechanism, based on firm commitments by the countries to integrate space technology applications operationally with development planning, with a focus on human resource development and endogenous capability-building to bring in associated social and economic benefits to the region.

54. In the long term, an effective regional cooperative mechanism should result in a permanent arrangement that will help to overcome the high cost barrier preventing many smaller economies from participating in space projects. Through economies of scale and reduced duplication of effort, the mechanism will provide a critical mass that should stimulate private sector space enterprise and give a stronger regional presence to global space affairs. What is missing to date is a study on possible regional cooperative mechanisms addressing legal, financial, programmatic and organizational factors, with special emphasis on the appropriate balance between private, academic and public sectors.

1.Ministerial Conference on Space Applications for Development in Asia and the Pacific (ST/ESCAP/1459), pp. 190-192.

2. ² Ibid., pp. 158-167.