II Earth Observation Summit

Opening Statement by Brazil

Ambassador Ivan de Oliveira Cannabrava
Tokyo, April 25th, 2004
Your Excellency
Minister Takeo Kawamura,
Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Senior Officials
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of my Government I would like to express
Brazils satisfaction to be present at the second Earth
Observation Summit. I would also like to thank the Government
of Japan for hosting this outstanding event which constitutes still
another valuable opportunity for a high level exchange of views
on crucial issues related to the establishment of what will
henceforth be called a Global Earth Observation System of
Systems.
A

Brazilian

Delegation

attended

the

first

Earth

Observation Summit, held in Washington, D.C., on July 31,

2003, and it participated actively in the drafting of the
Declaration that resulted from the negotiations. Brazil considers
the Washington Declaration the major outcome of the First
Summit due to the principles contained in that document, some
of which are of utmost importance for the engagement of my
country in this ambitious initiative. I refer particularly to the
consistency of the actions to be taken in the new system of

systems with the letter and the spirit of related international

conventions and existing national policies and legislation.
Throughout the past 10 months Brazilian representatives
have been engaged in the activities of GEO - the ad hoc
Working Group on Earth Observations - in order to contribute
to the efforts aiming at the establishment of the said global
systems of systems. This participation has revealed itself
extremely useful for the better understanding of the goals
envisaged and of the level of commitment required by this
initiative.
As for the benefits in sight, my Government is fully aware
that a broad range of user communities in all nations can achieve
them. These users include national, regional, and local decisionmakers; relevant international organizations responsible for the
implementation of international conventions; business, industry,
and service sectors; scientists and educators, as well as the
general public. For Brazil, the most relevant of these benefits is
the promotion of social and economical well-being to all
stakeholders, based on the expansion of world-wide capacity
and means to understand the Earth system.
My Delegation is convinced that the understanding of the
Earth system is crucial to enhancing human health, safety and
welfare; alleviating human poverty and hunger; protecting the
global environment; and achieving sustainable development.
Brazil considers that International Co-operation and Capacity

Building are key concepts in this context. We are also convinced

that world-wide actions governmental or not - become
imperative to help developing countries to meet their needs and
enable them to benefit from education, training, institutional
networks and communication. The future system shall be built
on local, national, regional, and global capacity building
initiatives, taking into account the need for financing globally
accepted sustainable development principles, most notably those
outlined in the World Summit on Sustainable Development Plan
of Implementation and the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals. It should also address the need for a
financing instrument for international co-operation and capacity
building efforts.
I would like to refer now to some on-going capacity
building initiatives related to Earth observations that are carried
out within the scope of the co-operation that Brazil develops in
particular with Latin American, Caribbean and Portuguesespeaking countries. The Brazilian National Institute for Space
Research - INPE - with more than 30 years of experience in the
Earth observation domain is responsible for the planning and
implementation of programs on the use of satellite imagery for
environmental surveys; the development of software for image
processing and geographic information system applications; the
implementation of training courses for end users of remote
sensing and geographic information systems; the provision of

satellite imagery at low costs for academic purposes; free access

to climate and hydrological data; online public information
updating on key large-scale earth observation projects, such as
land use change in the Amazon basin, fire, water quality, coastal
zone monitoring and disaster related to floods and to
meteorological hazardous events.
As for Earth observation applications, it is worth
mentioning that Brazil has been using orbital remote sensing
since the early 1970's to monitor its territory as well as its
coastal zone for cartographic updating. Moreover, Brazil has
developed the space-borne continuous assessment of the
Amazon Forest since 1989, the biggest tropical forest
monitoring ever implemented.
As for coastal areas, the Brazilian Government has
designed a national coastal management plan that includes in
situ observation activities targeting marine resources assessment,
coastal area zoning programs, and emergency situations in high
environmentally significant coastal areas, among others.
Another area of interest is hydrological monitoring. Brazil has
more than 500 stations to monitor the water cycle through
space-borne activities.
As far as meteorology is concerned, over the last few years
Brazil has been developing a new system of atmospheric
observation resorting to state-of-the-art equipment as well as to
space-based remote surveillance techniques and earthbound

devices. These observations aim at collecting data to improve

weather forecasting and climate analysis so as to take advantage
of weather bonanzas, thereby minimising the harmful effects of
severe weather conditions on the population and the domestic
Economy. As for the protection of the environment, the National
Program for Biotechnology and Genetic Resources focuses on
the implementation of a number of decisions and actions
encouraging the application of biotechnology that is compatible
with national needs in various crucial fields, such as agriculture
and health.
These comments indicate possible areas in which Brazil
would be eager to co-operate in light of the future Global Earth
Observation System of Systems. My country is convinced that
for it to be successful this future model must be comprehensive,
co-ordinated, and sustained. It shall be built step by step based
on current co-operation efforts between existing observing and
processing systems within their mandates, while encouraging
and accommodating new components. Member countries and
international organisations will determine ways and means of
their participation in it.
Therefore, I take this opportunity to reiterate the interest of
my country to continue engaged in this effort. We believe that in
order to proceed adequately it is essential that the Framework
Document before us be approved here in Tokyo. While not
legally binding, it marks a crucial step towards the

accomplishment of the goals envisioned by the Washington

Declaration. By adopting the Framework Document Brazil
indicates its willingness to co-operate on, and participate in, the
implementation of a Global Earth Observation System of
Systems.
Thank you very much.