Report of the APRSAF/SAFE Workshop in Vietnam

< Last Update: Aug. 6, 2019 >

The APRSAF/SAFE Workshop was held at Vietnam National Space Center (VNSC)/Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) in Hanoi, Vietnam on July 25, 2019. It was co-organized by VNSC and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The main topic of workshop was sharing SAFE Evolution project concept, status and proposal based on the proposed new SAFE TOR. Also, the status of one on-going prototype and one follow-up activity was reported. Around 30 people from 8 countries (Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and ADB participated in this meeting.

Report of the APRSAF/SAFE Workshop in Vietnam (1)

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Report of the APRSAF/SAFE Workshop in Vietnam (2)

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Report of the APRSAF/SAFE Workshop in Vietnam (3)

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The SAFE meeting was led by co-chairs, Dr. Lam Dao Nguyen, VNSC and Dr. Kei Oyoshi, JAXA. First of all, Dr. Vu Anh Tuan, Vice-Director General of VNSC made welcome address. He mentioned expectation of remote sensing data usage for environmental issues. He expressed space technologies can contribute to not only each country but also Asia-Pacific region.

As the first session of the workshop, the Executive Board member team reported SAFE Evolution project concept, status and proposal. One of the discussion items was to have consensus of the new SAFE TOR for defining the SAFE Evolution concept. The revised TOR based on the discussion will be created for its adoption in APRSAF-26 at Nagoya, Japan. The participants shared new concept shifting from bilateral prototyping to multi-lateral projects to tackle earth environmental (climate change) issues in Asia Pacific region. They also confirmed the progress of Agromet project and the concept development of the Rice crop monitoring project with JAIF funding.

Then one progress report of on-going prototyping ‘Smoke haze monitoring in Indonesia’ was made by LAPAN, Indonesia. The participants confirmed the progress in hotspot detection and smoke haze monitoring from Himawari-8 including the development of an automatic data processing and distribution system with the support of the University of Tokyo. Toward completion of the prototyping, the necessity to integrate Himawari-8 and GCOM-C was realized. Following the progress report, one follow-up activity ‘Promote rice planted area and production estimation using space based technologies’ (MAFF, Cambodia) was reported. We confirmed the expansion and good progress of validation framework using ALOS-2 and INAHOR in 6 provinces. Several suggestions toward its operational use were provided.

The final session of the workshop was SAFE Project and Related Activities Session. In this session, activities in ASEAN region by many organizations like VNSC, ISRO, GISTDA, LAPAN and ADB were presented. These activities are possibly able to collaborate with SAFE projects.

Result of the APRSAF/SAFE Workshop

Opening Session

  1. Welcome speech by Dr. Vu Anh Tuan, Vice DG of VNSC
  2. Self Introduction
  3. Opening Remarks by Co-Chairs
  4. Presented APRSAF-25 (Singapore) SAFE Workshop results
  5. Introduced SAFE Evolution:
    • Presented concept of the SAFE evolution; Shift from bilateral prototyping to multi-lateral projects to tackle earth environmental (climate change) issues in Asia Pacific region
    • Presented an overview of SAFE projects; Rice Crop Monitoring and Agromet

Report from Executive Board

  1. Recognized the mobilization of SAFE Evolution through implementation of the Agromet project
    • Visualized SAFE project on bilateral cooperation for the comparison of drought related products (JAXA-ISRO and JAXA-GISTDA) to trilateral comparison over common target area (north Thailand)
  2. Confirmed the progress of Agromet project
    • Confirmed the current status of JAXA-ISRO and JAXA-GISTDA, and ASEAN agromet project initiated under JAIF funding.
    • Confirmed the project activity schedule for coming two years
  3. Confirmed the concept development approach of the Rice crop monitoring project with JAIF funding
    • Confirmed the approach for the capacity building component of the rice crop damage assessment using satellite-based rice planted area estimation in ASEAN
    • Agreed to submit this new project to the ASEAN SCOSA meeting planned for October 2019, and then to ASEAN COSTI
  4. Agreed to develop a brochure of case studies: ‘Space Applications Best Practices’
    • Develop template to summarize and effectively present best practices
    • Prepare a list of best practices and their outline to report at APRSAF-26
  5. Review new SAFE TOR proposal
    • Revised TOR based on the discussion will be circulated by the SAFE Secretariat in a few weeks

Reports on Prototypes and Follow-up Activities

Indonesia (Haze Monitoring: LAPAN; 2 years + extended)

  1. Progress Confirmation
    • Confirmed the progress in hotspot detection and smoke haze monitoring from Himawari-8 including the development of an automatic data processing and distribution system with the support of the University of Tokyo
    • Successfully collaborated with line agencies, BMKG and MoEF to use Himawari for hotspot detection. Results not yet validated.
  2. Recommendations toward the project completion
    • Realize the necessity to integrate Himawari-8 and GCOM-C, since GCOM-C is available now
    • Suggested further discussion with end-users (BMKG and MoEF) to find ways to use the project result after completion of the project

Cambodia (Paddy Area Estimation: DPS/MAFF, 2 year+1 year extended)

  1. Progress Confirmation
    • Confirmed the expansion and good progress of validation framework using ALOS-2 and INAHOR in 6 provinces; recommended large scale practical implementation
    • Confirmed the contribution of INAHOR to improve the statistics in the target provinces, both rainy and dry season
  2. Recommendations toward the project completion
    • Suggested to apply the validation framework to the current cropping season; confirm the improvement of statistics and report back to APRSAF26
    • Establishment of the validation framework in DPS for operational use at the end of the project

Report from Executive Board

Identified activities with possibility of contributing to the SAFE projects (Agromet/Rice crop monitoring)

  1. VNSC: 2019 CEOS Chair initiative - agriculture initiative (rice monitoring) with Data Cube
    • Proposed cooperative work with ongoing and past SAFE prototyping (Cambodia, Vietnam)
  2. ISRO: Operational agriculture monitoring system in India
    • drought monitoring, area/production estimation of crops, damage assessment, advisory notification are suggested areas for collaboration
  3. GISTDA: Progress report on ongoing SAFE Agromet project
    • Realized the necessity of defining a common comparison area in Northern Thailand
  4. LAPAN: New SAFE project proposal on “Drought and flood monitoring system improvements”
    • Need to be discussed in executive board (could be integrated into the agromet project)
  5. ADB: ADB Strategy 2030 prioritizing climate change, rural development and food security as some of 7 operational priorities, EO and GIS utilization in ADB projects for water resource management, agriculture
    • Share best practice case studies brochure with referring ADB strategy 2030

» Agenda and Presentation materials