Draft for Review
International Workshop
on

CAPACITY BUILDING IN ASIA
"EARTH OBSERVATIONS IN THE SERVICE OF WATER MANAGEMENT"
26th -28th September 2006, Bangkok, Thailand

Summary of Proceedings

The International Workshop on Capacity Building in Asia on the theme ‘EarthObservations in the Service of Water Management’ was held at Ramagarden Hotel,Bangkok, Thailand from 26th to 28th September 2006. The workshop was co-hosted byIntegrated Global Water Cycle Observation (IGWCO), Group on Earth Observations(GEO), Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), University of Tokyo (UT),Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), United Nations University (UNU), United Nations
Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP), World MeteorologicalOrganization (WMO), World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and theInternational Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM). Sponsors ofthe Workshop were JAXA, UT, and WMO.
The workshop was aimed at exchanging information on best practices and available tools
for applications of Earth observations for water resource management in the Asian region.
It was specifically intended to consolidate regional requirements upon the existing
infrastructure and to hold discussions in way of identifying urgent needs in terms of thewell-being of society and thereby to propose Regional Capacity Building Projects forapplications of Earth observations for water resource management in Asia.
The workshop was attended by 121 participants from 22 countries. In order to assurehigh-quality, interactive participation, about half of the attendance at the workshop wasby invitation and included policy makers, Earth observation providers, resource
managers and top academia mainly from 55 state sector organisations.
Proceedings of workshop, which had its occurrence over three days was well split into 5
main Plenary Sessions excluding the Opening Session. Sessions 1, 2, and 3 which held
during Day 1 were devoted for Policy makers. Target groups for Session 4 and Session 5
which held during Day 2 and Day 3 respectively were Earth Observation Providers andWater Resource Mangers.

Plenary Session 1During Session 1, participants were provided with an introduction to GEO, GEOSS as an
objective of GEO, and IGWCO and their activities in collaboration with otherinternational organisations and space agencies pertaining to Water Resource
Management and Capacity Building. In line with the above, the consensus of the 1stAsian Water Cycle Symposium held at UT, 2-4 November 2006 and under the vision ofGEOSS was presented. Accordingly, activities consequent to the said symposium,particularly, the success story of the Asian Water Cycle Initiative and the Implementation
Task Team’s (ITT) Working Session held on 25th September 2006 was reported while
recognizing significant progress rendered by ITT to date in developing implementation
plan for Integrated River Basin Water Resource Management projects in the region andexpecting their continued cooperation in the future.
A discussion followed the talks on the Asian Water Cycle Initiative and someparticipants who do not have membership in ITT were also seen to show theirwillingness to take part in the activities. UNU, made a request accordingly to send thereport on activities to all groups enabling the interested to take part.
Plenary Session 2Session 2 of the workshop was utilised to make aware the participants of theInternational and Regional Programmes on Best Practices for Applications of Earth
Observations for Water Management on Capacity Building. The Session comprised 8
presentations by Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency(GISTDA) of Thailand, Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space(LAPAN), JAXA, WMO, UN-ESCAP, UNU, AIT, and Mekong River Commission.
GISTA began the Session by briefing on its Earth observation satellite activities withspecial reference to the THailand Earth Observation System (THEOS) to be launched inMid 2007 and the applications of the same to the Water sector and their involvement inCapacity Building.
LAPAN as a data provider introduced its precipitation products and applications of space
based observations for monitoring of floods and drought, climate prediction, and rapid
damage assessment.
JAXA, with the identification of nine societal benefit areas i.e. disasters, health, energy,climate, water, weather, ecosystems, agriculture, and biodiversity, discussed their presentand future missions including those for GEOSS which are TRMM, GPM, AMSR,AMSR-E, GCOM-W, GCOM-C, ALOS, GOSAT, EarthCARE. Activities focussing onwater issues such as International Flood Network(IFNet)/Global Flood AlertSystem(GFAS), Sentinel Asia and its Flood WG were also presented. Finally, JAXA’s
involvement in object oriented Capacity Building Projects was highlighted.
WMO conveyed that it has a number of platforms to support the capacity building
activities in Asia e.g. the WHYCOS programme, Flood Management and Disaster
Prevention. It was also pointed that WMO offers its capabilities for the development ofinitiatives that support the goals of GEO and IGWCO in the water sector.
UNESCAP drew the attention of the participants on priority challenges in the Water
Resources activities in Asia- Pacific and disclosed the regional findings on disasters.
UNESCAP also shared their recent experience and developments in valuing the cost ofdisasters and presented the UNESCAP Template of Assessment.
UNU commenced with an introduction to its Environment and Sustainable Development(ESD) programme which focuses on the interactions between human activities andnatural environment and their implications for sustainable development. Three sample
activities, 1. Rainfall Forecasting System, 2. Flood Forecasting Modelling System, and 3.
Graduate Student Program, which comes under the scope of the above programme werethen presented in some detail.
AIT, in addition to its routine academic programmes in the field of RS and GIS,
highlighted the Capacity Building programmes conducted by its centre for research andtraining, the Geoinformatics Center, in collaboration with JAXA and Keio University.
Object-oriented, real-world, Mini Project based training and Caravan Training carried out
in different localities targeting a larger audience were only two of the several
programmes which the participants were made aware of in detail.
The Mekong River commission, at the closure of Session 2, briefed the status of thecurrent short term forecasts (1-5 days) and the intended future medium term forecasts (615 days). Flood forecast accuracy with respect to forecast lead time was also discussed.
Finally, the Commission sought the cooperation of data providers to improve the weather
forecast in the region.
Plenary Session 3
As an extension to Session 2, Session 3 included presentations on National Programmes
adopted for Applications of Earth Observations for Water Management and Capacity
Building. It was recognized that there are significant ongoing activities as to Integrated
Water Resource Management and application of satellite data in many countries in theregion. However, from the presentations on activities carried out in 16 countries in theregion, several issues pertaining to each country, except Japan, were conveyed. Table 01summarises the same retaining the order of presentations.

Plenary Session 4Session 4 of the workshop was devoted to transfer information on available data, tools,and opportunities that could be utilised in the service of water management.
Opening Session 4 of the workshop, ICHARM, the International Center for WaterHazard And Risk Management, presented two of its research activities on global rainfall
estimation utilising satellite data and development of an Integrated Flood Analysis
System (IFAS) for poorly-gauged stations. Opportunity to seek training on Flood Hazard
Mapping at ICHARM was also related.
MAHASRI, the Monsoon Asian Hydro Atmosphere Scientific Research and Prediction
Initiative, was then introduced as an initiative to establish a hydro meteorological system,
particularly up to seasonal time scale. Having identified that scale-interactions among
diurnal, synoptic, intraseasonal and seasonal variability of Asian monsoon, as one of thekey issues in the above establishment, typical diurnal, intraseasonal, and seasonalvariations were discussed and simulation of diurnal variation of precipitation using cloud
resolving model was presented.
PUB, Predictions in Ungauged Basins, was introduced as an IAHS initiative for decade
2003-2012. Accordingly it related its commitment to the reduction of the predictive
uncertainty in hydrological science and practice mainly through channels of knowledge
sharing and technology transfer. While introducing the 17 Working Groups as the main
engines of PUB activities, it welcomed new Working Groups and referred to its website
http://www.pub.iwmi.org to seek further details and access PUB publications.
JEPP, the Japanese EOS Promotion Program, highlighted its Asian Monsoon andClimate Variability theme comprising a number of water related programmes. Under theabove theme Development of Rainfall Observation System in Southeast Asia was taken
for further discussion. During subsequent discussions JEPP’s assistance towards theestablishment of 15 Tsunami Early Warning Support projects and its support for Public
Awareness programs was also unveiled.
CliC, Climate and Cryosphere, set with a goal to access and quantify the impacts thatclimatic variability have on the components of the cryosphere and the consequences ofthese impacts for the climate system, and to determine the stability of the cryosphere,
enlisted 4 project areas under its implementation strategy.
CEOP, Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period, which is as an element of WCRP
presented its three unique capabilities; Convergence of Observations, Interoperability
Arrangement, and Data Management. CEOP provides researchers and users access to insite data, satellite data and model output data on 35 reference sites in the world. The
CEOP system provides also very useful tool for QD, data analysis and visualization.
Answering a query on possibility of transferring the QC software, CEOP stated thatsince the technology involved is of proprietary nature, technology transfer at this stage
would be difficult.

MAIRS, Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study program subsequent to theidentification of environmental changes in monsoon Asia introduced 4 priority research
themes Coastal Zones, Mountain Zones, Semi Arid Zones, Urban Zones. During
discussion followed the presentation, it was, however, pointed out that to address realworld needs research on the above themes should be mixed appropriately to give realworld themes, for instance, tropical mixed coastal and urban zones.
Introducing India as one among the six nations involved in space programmes, the ISROSpace Application Centre presented its capabilities on communication, search and rescue
services, meteorology imaging, disaster warning system, and data collection platforms.
The top-down and bottom up approaches adopted in EO application was also discussed.
Sentinel Asia, the voluntary initiatives for establishing a Disaster Management Support
System in the Asia Pacific Region listed out its main activities which are to commencefrom October 2006 as follows; Emergency observation in the case of major disasters byALOS, Wildfire monitoring by MODIS, Flood Monitoring by TRMM and AMSR-E,
capacity building for utilization of satellite images for disaster management.
ITC, the international institute for geo-observation science and earth observation,
presented the strategies to address diversified needs in Capacity Building in geoinformation handling. Short courses, distance education, joint courses etc wereintroduced as adaptations of ITC in this regard. During subsequent discussions, on behalfof JAXA the Bangkok representative informed JAXA’s collaborations with AIT,
Tsukuba University of Japan, and the Malaysian University in distance education.
As the closing presentation of Session 4, EWBMS, the Energy and Water Balance
Monitoring System, a private company of Netherlands, presented its capabilities inmonitoring and validation of rainfall and energy balance, and flow and flood forecasting.
Determination of evapotranspiration using energy balance processing and mapping ofrelative evapotranspiration were discussed.
Break-Out Sessions and Working Group Reports
When the participants resembled after Session 4, they were convened into three Working
Groups in order to assess/identify the urgent needs as regards to Flooding, Drought, andWater Quality and thereby to propose regional application projects which would
contribute to the GEOSS Water Management SBA. Discussions on the said topics were
held in parallel accordingly.
Plenary Session 5
Plenary Session 5 was devoted for presentations of Reports by the three Working Groups
which are attached hereto, retaining the order of presentations; Drought, Water Quality
and Ground Water, and Flooding.

During subsequent discussions, it was pointed out that the works in relation to drought
prediction/forecasting is still in its infancy offering difficulties in forecasts with thepresent technology. However, early warning is said to be achieved using advanced
algorithms. Under the circumstances, awareness programs to prepare the possible victims
to combat drought was considered as a crucial activity that needs implementation. The
need to identify data, system and services available in the region for drought monitoringand services was indicated by a participant. It was also recommended to develop concrete
next steps.
The Working Group on Water Quality and Ground Water drew the attention of all,indicating that the Water Quality is the most neglected yet a critical issue in somecountries in the region. Taking Bangladesh as example, it was disclosed that on thecontrary to the statement made by the UN World Report i.e. more than 90% of the peopleof Bangladesh avail drinking water of acceptable quality, about 50% of the people ofBangladesh are consuming arsenic contaminated water of which the quality is well below
the stipulated international standards. Hence, the Working Group emphasized that theissues of water quality should be taken up as a matter of priority. The Working Groupdecided to make a proposal for the task to GEO and subsequent proposal.
With reference to the Working Group Report on Floods, a case of the Global Flood Alert
System was presented. In most parts of Asia, flood forecasting, warning and response
systems are yet to be established and the most important issue in Asia is to expand thenetwork of flood forecasting and warning systems. Increasing usefulness of satellite
information, particularly of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) for flood
forecasting and warning system was emphasized. It was suggested that an inventory ofexisting information services be prepared for the region and ICHARM would take a rolein the investigation with cooperation with the group members. It was also proposed todevelop demonstration projects in conjunction with the framework of AWCI, Sentinel
Asia, etc. The representative of EWBMS, remarked that the acquisition of data from theexisting geostationary satellites in flood disaster mitigatory measures needs mention.
The ISRO representative followed with a discussion on establishment of compensation
distribution in the event of a flood to facilitate the victims to make a reasonable living
notwithstanding the loss of property.
Another participant from India while stressing the importance of ‘Public Education’ ofthe whole process forwarded his perspective that the same could effectively be carriedout through university channels than the others. On this basis, he suggested that auniversity network be formed for this purpose and requested JAXA’s support to thiseffect.
Based on the working group reports and subsequent discussions it was collectively
identified by the participants that
1. Observational data necessary to address the associated issues are lacking and even theavailable data are sometimes inaccessible and not interoperable. A systematic
observation of at least the sensitive and fragile systems considered essential. It wassuggested that a data inventory which would rectify the present anomaly shall bemade available at a central location under the purview of either GEO or some otherorganisation giving easy access to the stakeholders. In this context, it was alsosuggested that real time data required for flood forecasting and early warning, inparticular, be made available, preferably, free of charge and easily accessible .
2. Utilisation of Remote Sensing/Satellite data alone would not allow to satisfy therequirements in solving the related issues and hence integration between remotesensing and the conventional in-situ data need to be streamlined, for instance in thecase of drought monitoring in-situ measurements on terrain variables should
complement remote sensing data. Not only the data but also the water related issues
in some aspects need to be solved taking an integral approach.
3. Public education and awareness programmes need strengthening to in order to makethe high profile efforts more meaningful. Which channel in this respect, governmentor academic, could play an effective role was subject to much debate. However, it
was agreed upon that national efforts complimented by international support shall bethe path way.
4. Earth Observation Providers/Space Agencies shall prioritise their action plan in sucha manner to cater the urgent needs of the society which would eliminate theassociated risk.
5. In order to utilise the emerging Earth observation data and associated techniquesfrom different sources, Capacity Building programmes in different modules and atdifferent stakeholder levels shall be devised and implemented.
JAXA reported as workshop secretariat that the workshop report will be made to CEOS
Plenary, IGOS-P meeting and GEO-III in November. It will be also reported to the 2nd
Asia Water Cycle Symposium and GEOSS Outreach Symposium in January 2007.
The participants agreed on the need on regular Capacity Building workshops in order toaddress the above needs in the region. With such request, JAXA took action to consider
planning the 2nd workshop.
Adjourn
The chair adjourned the workshop by thanking all participants for their valuable
contribution, the hosts without the generous contributions of whom the Workshop would
not have been possible, and the unstinting support of all who worked behind the scenes tomake the Workshop a success.