Statement by Mrs Joanna Gash, MP, Parliamentary Adviser to the Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations Fourth Committee on the International Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
14 October 2008
(As delivered)
Australia acknowledges the importance of space related activities to people from all nations. Over several decades, Australia has played a prominent role in space-related science and exploration through international collaboration and cooperation. Science and research related to space are important elements of Australia’s wider scientific and research effort.
The Australian Government strongly supports the peaceful uses of outer space. Australia makes widespread use of space technologies ranging from communication and broadcasting, environmental and natural resource management, weather forecasting, navigation, timing services and precision farming.
Australia recognises the serious challenges of food security and has actively supported international efforts to address the issue. Australia has discussed food security at the FAO High Level Conference on Global Food Security in June 2008, the July 2008 G8 summit and the UN General Assembly and High Level Event on the Millennium Development Goals in September 2008. Australia has emphasised the role of trade in improving food security through the WTO, APEC, OECD and other fora, and has supported the Secretary-General’s High Level Taskforce on the Global Food Security Crisis, including urging countries to implement its recommendations. A coordinated international response is required and the UN Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA) provides useful policy recommendations for countries to help achieve reliable food supplies while maintaining the flexibility to respond in accordance with the specific needs and national circumstances.
Concerns over global food security arise out of a complex set of drivers influencing both food supply and demand. On the demand side, drivers include population growth, dietary changes associated with economic development and the diversion of food commodities to biofuels. Supply factors include, but are not restricted to, issues of agricultural productivity growth, climate variability affecting yield levels in different production regions, costs of nutrient, agro-chemical and energy inputs, growing constraints on the expansion of irrigation areas, soil and landscape degradation restricting yields, loss of agricultural land to urbanisation and other land and water limits to the expansion of agriculture. In addition, competition for agricultural land for carbon bio-sequestration and biodiversity conservation are also emerging issues.
There is an important role for space-based observation in all of these critical food supply issues. In terms of research activities addressing agricultural productivity growth in the face of various land, water, nutrient and energy constraints, remote sensing is playing an increasingly important role in the characterisation of productivity constraints and the search for interventions that can raise the efficiency of resource use and maintain or grow agricultural productivity improvement. There are also critical applications for remote sensing approaches in the monitoring of regional food production activity so that early warnings of impending food deficits can be developed and acted upon.
Some examples of how space technologies are currently supporting a range of Australian research activities and other applications relevant to the issue of food security include:
Refinement of near–real time satellite-based observation of atmospheric, land-surface and ocean conditions, as input to numerical weather and drought forecasting tools such as the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator - ACCESS, the Water Resources Observation Network – WRON and the Australian Water Availability Program - AWAP
Use of imaging spectroscopy sensor systems (“hyperspectral sensing’) to monitor crop nutrition, phenology and growth
Improvement of crop water use through more effective use uses of GPS-technologies in crop cultivation, field levelling and irrigation
Remote monitoring of pasture productivity and wildfires in remote pastoral properties
Pest & disease monitoring in crops and forests using advanced spectral imaging technologies
Attribution of long-term changes in land degradation and vegetative cover, as measured via satellite remote sensing, to human and/or climate-related impacts
Frontiers of research in the remote sensing domain in Australia include:
• Understanding and modelling of a fully integrated Earth System covering the interactions and feedbacks between ocean, atmosphere, humans and land-surface
• Understanding & predicting the impacts of rising temperatures on ocean circulation and resultant changes in climate and drought cycles
• Process understanding of the coupled water & carbon cycles in a changing temperature and CO2 climate
Australia is seeking to maintain and grow the productivity and sustainability of its farming systems as an important contribution to global food supply. Research applications of remote sensing are increasingly flowing onto operational management activities. While Australian agriculture does face significant challenges in terms of climate variability and change, water supplies for irrigation, mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and maintaining healthy and productive soils, Australian agricultural R&D is making active use of remote sensing as a tool in the search for more efficient resource use and more sustainable land management.
In addition to an Australian focus, Australian research institutions are engaged in a range of international partnerships which involve the application of remotely sensed information to global resource management and food security challenges. There is potential for these partnerships to be further expanded to assist international development outcomes.
Over the long-term, sustained increases in agricultural productivity are vital for the world to meet future demand and ensure that the food security crisis does not reoccur. Australia is looking to improve its investment in agricultural research in order to lift agricultural productivity. There have already been, and will continue to be, significant productivity gains that can be found through using space technologies to help improve production. Precision images projected from satellites allow us to predict changes in crop yields, measure sea surface temperatures and track bushfires. Global positioning systems are allowing the further development of precision agriculture, which can reduce costs, increase production and improve the sustainability of our agricultural practices.
As these technologies are becoming increasingly vital for the accurate and efficient management of a country’s natural resources, it is important that they are also accessible to developing and least-developed countries to help them reach their development potential.