Land mapping networking will be improved

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Forestry will use the National Agency for Survey and Mapping Coordination's remote sensing services to supervise forests and the evaluate reforestation programs.

Under an agreement signed Tuesday by the agency's chief, Paul Suharto, and director general of forest inventory and land use planning, Sumahadi, the ministry and agency will cooperate in the operation of radars to establish an inventory and evaluate forest resources.

The two government institutions will also cooperate to monitor forest areas in a critical state, establish boundaries and train officials in forest surveying.

Suharto said the agreement was an extension of one signed in 1984, which included cooperation in evaluating the ecosystem after bush fires and reforestation programs.

He said the agency had adopted an integrated digital data base using the National Geographic Information System.

Sumadi said the ministry renewed the cooperation with the agency to improve the time efficiency and the management of remote sensing by using the system.

The remote sensing will use Synthetic Aperture Radar and Interferrometric Synthetic Aperture Radar technology to see through clouds and darkness to obtain detailed images of the earth.

Suharto said the radar had thermal sensor equipment which could detect heat and map the earth's surface and potential bush fire spots.

The radar could detect and evaluate the structural changes of soil, reforestation, forest boundaries and concessionaires' activities, he said.

Paul said his agency had done maps for transmigration programs with an image scale of 1:50,000 and 1:25,000. (10)