Algeria Space Agency enters agreement to use space technologies to monitor natural ecosystems

By
TheMaghrebTimes.com
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The Algerian Space Agency (ASAL) and the General Directorate of Forests (DGF) signed on October 10, 2018, at the Satellite Development Center (CDS) in Oran, a specific cooperation agreement, which aims to space technologies and their applications in the development of tools for decision-making and monitoring of natural ecosystems.

This agreement, which is part of the implementation of the ASAL Framework Convention – Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries (signed on 31 October 2017), was signed on the sidelines of the Technical Workshop, organized at the CDS, bringing together DGF and ASAL executives around themes related to the protection and management of the national forest heritage, in particular:

  • The contribution of satellite imagery in the fight against forest fires;
  • Sensitivity to desertification assessment through the use of space techniques;
  • The mapping of forest fire risks through the use of space techniques and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

In view of the possibilities offered by space technologies and applications through the products of Alsat-1B and Alsat-2A / 2B high resolution Alsat-1A medium-resolution earth observation satellites, in terms of reliable and up-to-date information needed in the design and implementation of sustainable development projects, these tools will, among other things:

  • Strengthening prediction and monitoring with the establishment of a forest weather index and a risk map for forest fires;
  • Evaluation of vegetative post-fire recovery from the space tool;
  • Detection of change in land use;
  • Mapping of land degradation (water and wind erosion, deforestation …);

ASAL and the DGF agree that the axes and themes of collaboration may relate, inter alia, to services:

  • studies and services based on satellite imagery;
  • technical assistance in the implementation of geographical information systems (GIS), the establishment of tools for analysis and evaluation, to ensure optimal integration of these instruments in the functional environment of the DGF;
  • training for the improvement of the supervisory staff of the DGF in the field of GIS and data processing and satellite images of Earth observation, and positioning.