Land mapping networking will be improved

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)