WA's award-winning Firewatch Program helps Indonesia
03/12/2007
A team of fire monitoring experts from Landgate (formerly the Department of Land Information) are helping the Indonesian Government reduce the smoke haze caused by the huge forest fires that have plagued Southeast Asia since the 1990s.
Land Informatin Minister Michelle Roberts said Landgate's Satellite Remote Sensing Service (SRSS) had a 25-year history of customising satellite monitoring applications to meet the specific needs of government agencies across Australia.
Importantly, Landgate's Firewatch program has been recognised as Australia'a leading fire monitoring service, winning multiple awards including the Government Technology Gold Award and WA Premier's Award in 2005.
Taking this expertise overseas to assist our near neighbours in monitoring and managing wildfires via satellite has been a logical step, she said.
Today (12th March 2007), Mrs Roberts welcomed the Republic of Indonesia's Consul, Dr. Aloysius Madja and a "Hot Spot Team" from Indonesia to Landgate's Satellite Remote Sensing Service in Floreat.
The Indonesian team of seven is taking part in a six-week traning program with the SRSS technical team.
This intense training program follows visits by SRSS technical teams to Indonesia to meet with Forestry and Environment Ministers to assess their needs and to ascertain sources of local spatial information, which will be used to generate fire maps, Mrs Roberts said.
Access to these fire maps will help these agencies to control and restrict the spread of forest fires which have been an annual disaster in the region for many years.
The Landgate technical support and training team will return with the Indonesian Hot Spot team to assist them in setting up the Fire Hot Spot Monitoring and Management program in their country.
Mrs Roberts also welcomed two representatives from the Forest Protection Department (FPD) of the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), who are also taking part in the six-week intensive traning program. An SRSS technical officer spent 24 days in Hanoi earlier this year providing training to the FPD and assisting in the configuration of Vietnam's first Modis Satellite receiving station, which has been installed for the detection of wildfires to protect Vietnam's forests.
By undertaking an effective role in trying to solve the regional smoke haze problem and the protection of regional forests, Landgate is helping to strengthen Western Australia's relationship with Indonesia and Southeast Asia, Mrs Roberts said.
Background
Landgate's International Services secured Public Sector Linkages Program funding from the Australian Government's overseas aid agency, AusAID, to develop the capabilities of Indonesia's Forestry and Environment Ministries to monitor the wild fires via satellite and distribute fire maps to Indonesian stakeholder agencies.
The Vietnamese team's participation in the training has been funded through the Federal Government's Australian Leadership Awards Fellowship program.
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