The region is correspondingly rich in its marine and terrestrial biotic resources, many of which are increasingly impacted by anthropogenic activities. There are aumber of pressing environmental issues in the region, including deforestation, coral reef degradation, and pollution of air and water resources. In addition, there are major questions regarding the sustainability of fishery resources, which have supplied the region's people with protien for millenia, but are now being heavily exploited with an array of technologies. The region is subjected to aide range of natural disasters.
Monsoons bring torrential rains and flooding.
When monsoons falter, due to events such as El Nino, drought and devastating fires can occur. Satellite remote sensing technologies ve proven capabilities for environmental monitoring and disaster warning. However, the full value and benefit of current sensor systems is seldom realized due to limited distribution of the data and derived products, which are constrained, in part, by large data volumes. The WG will utilize APAN to distribute remote sensing data and derived information products to new sets of data users which will be developed through the APAN nodes. The WG will monitor the feedback from data users and attempt to respond through changes and adjustment in the products and delivery patterns to better serve the objectives of the end users.