CSTD & ANSO Participated in CropWatch-ICP Progress Meeting

23 08, 2024

On 26 July, the CropWatch Innovation Cooperation Program (CropWatch-ICP), supported by the Alliance of National and International Science Organizations for the Belt and Road Regions (ANSO), held a progress meeting at the Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIRCAS). Ms. Shamika N. Sirimanne, Director of the Division on Technology and Logistics of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and Ms. ZHANG Liping, Chief of the Division on Technology and Logistics of UNCTAD, discussed the capacity building of the CropWatch. Mr. ZHANG Shizhuan, Deputy Executive Director of the Secretariat of the Alliance of National and International Science Organizations for the Belt and Road Regions (ANSO), Prof. WU Bingfang, head of the CropWatch team, and other representatives participated in the meeting.

Mr. ZHANG addressed that CropWatch-ICP empowers developing nations with enhanced capabilities in crop monitoring, fostering sustainable and resilient farming practices, which is integral to China's food market decisions, annual import and export planning, and disaster response. He expressed the willingness to forge stronger ties between ANSO and international bodies such as UNCTAD and CSTD, to search for collaborative solutions to a more resilient agricultural future.

Mr. GAO Boxuan, representative of the Bureau of International Cooperation of CAS, congratulated the progress Cropwatch-ICP has made. He believes that more outcomes will be achieved based on the current progress.

Ms. CHEN Mingmei, Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation of AIRCAS, introduced the expertise of AIRCAS in the field of remote sensing technology and its commitment to international cooperation and expressed full support for the establishment of the Overseas Regional Center of CropWatch.

Mr. Letu Husi, Leader of the Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth of AIRCAS, introduced works of in the Key lab on remote sensing technology innovation and earth observation technology development. He said that CropWatch is an essential component of the Key lab and strongly endorsed the efforts of the CropWatch team to foster international collaboration.

Ms. Shamika introduced the mandate of CSTD and works. She highly commended the important role of the CropWatch platform in contributing to the Zero Hunger SDGs. She also expressed appreciation for the establishment of the West Africa Regional Center of the CropWatch-ICP in July and expected that its results will be exhibited at the annual conference of CSTD in 2025. She thanked ANSO, the Ministry of Science and Technology, CAS, and AIRCAS for their support to UNCTAD and looked forward to deeper cooperation in more areas.

Associate Prof. ZHANG Miao from the CropWatch team introduced the new technologies and progress of the CropWatch project; Dr. YAN Nana introduced the progress and outcomes of the project on DroughtWatch and DzudWatch capacity building on monitoring and early warning of droughts and dzuds in Mongolia; and Dr. MA Zonghan introduced the ETWatch platform and the applications in agricultural water management. Prof. ZHANG Xin from the Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth of AIRCAS gave a presentation on the unmanned farm project supported by Beidou and Gaofen, which improves the efficiency and sustainability of agricultural production. Associate Prof. Asfaw Kebede from Ethiopia, a visiting scientist of CAS President's International Fellowship (PIFI), shared the application of the CropWatch in Ethiopia, demonstrating its important role in promoting the development of agricultural technology in Ethiopia.

In the final discussion session, participants engaged in an in-depth exchange of views on how to further integrate remote sensing technologies in support of global agricultural monitoring. The discussion covered not only cooperation at the technical level but also policy recommendations, financial support, and capacity building.

Source: Nana Yan, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences