My Memories of ACRS and Message to AARS

Keiji Maruo Councilor Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan

I sincerely congratulate the 20th anniversary of Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS) and the activity of Asian Association on Remote Sensing (AARS). I also wish to pay my hearty respect to the great efforts of General Secretary and Organizing Committee and concerned staffs, peoples of host countries who made their best to receive and hold the ACRS and arranged various plans such as a welcome party, technical tour, etc. My first participation in ACRS was the 2nd ACRS held in Beijing, China on October 29 - November 4, 1981.

The highlight of the 2nd ACRS was the welcome party at the People's Great Hall. It was so pleasant and friendly because the participants of each country could sing their public songs and display their national dances, something that never happened before at the famous People's Great Hall. Also, this is my understanding that the representatives of each country had several meetings during this conference and discussed the future of the conference and agreed to establish Asian Association on Remote Sensing (AARS) and started the activity.

Before the establishment of ACRS, ERIM International Symposium was the famous symposium for remote sensing, held in the USA and foreign countries every other year respectively. However, it was too expensive for Asian researchers who wanted to attend and participate in the ERIM symposium. I was told that this was one of the reasons for the establishment of ACRS. At that time, Asian countries had several problems in Remote Sensing including the shortage of researchers and people educated in remote sensing, difficulty in obtaining remote sensing equipment and computers, and budget shortage. I believe that these problems were overcome by some degree due to various activities.

From 1977, Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan (RESTEC) commenced the Group Training Course in Remote Sensing Technology committed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and I, myself, have concentrated on conducting this training course until my retirement (I am now a councilor). The trainees of this course are mainly the researchers from Asian countries.

In addition to this training course, from 1992, RESTEC conducted the Regional Seminar on Earth Observation for the Tropical Ecosystem Management, organized jointly by UNESCAP, National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) and the host country.

At present, earth's environmental problems are recognized as one of the most important subjects for humans and natural disasters such as flood, abnormal weather, climate change, desertification, etc. bring dangerous damage to human life.

Earth environmental monitoring and protection create sustainable development and is considered the basis of economic growth.

In order to clear the essence of Earth environmental problems, it is important that we should accumulate the systemized scientific data as well as its analysis, and promote the application of research results. It is considered that the development of earth observation technology, data continuity, information network system, database development, human resources development such as training, seminar, and information exchange are very important for the reinforcement and expansion of research activity in remote sensing.

The Asian region encompasses nations with diverse ethnic groups, cultures, climates and resources. The policy of Remote Sensing would be different in each nation. It is therefore very important to exchange information such as research work, and information of development of remote sensing technology and earth observation technology. Through the exchange of information, the mutual understanding, which is very important, can be strengthened. In this point of view, ACRS is playing an important role in the Asian region. Therefore, I sincerely hope that ACRS will be continued for this important role and the activity of AARS will be expanded further in the future. Finally, I wish to congratulate again the 20th anniversary of ACRS and AARS.