Mekong from Space: A new perspective of the Mekong River basin
Aug 24, 2006
The Mekong River Commission (MRC), the international river basin organisation mandated with managing the transboundary water resources of the Mekong River Basin in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam) has launched an interactive educational tool designed to raise awareness regarding the resources of the Mekong Basin. The Mekong From Space is an interactive educational tool developed with the assistance of the Canadian Space Agency (Earth Observation Application Development Program), the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS), Hatfield Consultants Ltd (Canada) and Ærde (Canada), Strata360 (Canada). This interactive Internet experience illustrates how satellite imagery can provide up-to-date information on the environmental issues of concern within the Mekong River Basin and is designed to engage potential new users of satellite imagery. The Mekong From Space is accessible through the MRC newly designed web-site www.mrcmekong.org.
The Mekong from Space provides an opportunity for the uninitiated to explore the Mekong Basin through the eyes of a satellite sensor, and understand the benefits of Earth Observation for natural resource management. While the Mekong from Space is designed for new users of satellite imagery, it also contains information that an experienced user should find interesting and stimulating.
Dr Olivier Cogels, Chief Executive Officer of the Mekong River Commission Secretariat said this exciting new addition to the MRC website had been well received by website users and would proved to be a useful source of information for all.
“The MRC is very keen to promote any kind of educational resources in order to help those in our member countries and others around the world learn more about the Mekong River and the Mekong River Basin,” he said.
“We are also fully aware of the vital role satellite imagery can play in our work in such areas as flood mitigation and management and environmental monitoring. We are continuing our work monitoring the 2006 flood season with the assistance of the Canadian Space Agency and are confident this will improve our knowledge of flood probability and subsequently allow us to implement better early warning systems in the basin and save more lives.”
Denis Auger of the Canadian Space Agency relayed how proud the CSA is to have contributed to the development of the Mekong From Space. “Increasing awareness and knowledge of the population over the management of natural resource, is the key to successful implementation of sustainable development policies for the management of water resources. Earth observation technology can play a major role in showing, learning and understanding. Furthermore, Mekong From Space shows that Earth Observation by satellite is not only for the richer nations; all regions of the world can benefit from this technology.”
The Mekong from Space featured on the front page of the Canadian Space Agency web-site.
The homepage of the Mekong From Space.
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