Conference on the outcomes of the “2019-2022 State Program on Development of the Satellite Earth Observation in the Republic of Azerbaijan” was held by Azercosmos.
The main goal of the conference was the implementation status of the state program during four years. The aim of the program was to develop satellite services in agriculture, emergency situations and natural resources management, environmental protection, land reclamation and water management, transport and road infrastructure, tourism development, mapping and urban planning, state property management.
Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, Ministry of Emergency Situations, State Service of Real Estate Affairs, State Tourism Agency, “AzerGold”, “Azerpambig”, AZAL, SOCAR, National Aviation Academy, other state and educational institutions participated in the conference.
Chairman of Azercosmos, Samaddin Asadov mentioned in his speech that the use of satellite services in the field of remote sensing has increased in our country.
According to the results of the State Program covering the 2019-2022 period, Azercosmos implemented more than 400 projects using satellite images in cooperation with local state organizations and educational institutions. 137 of them were related to scientific research projects.
It was brought to the attention of the conference participants that in order to expand the use of satellite data in the direction of training of specialists in the field of geographic information systems and the development of scientific research, the Aerospace Monitoring Training Center has already started operating at the National Aviation Academy.
Azersky satellite services were used in the country, especially in the preparation of the map of agricultural crops, the planting of olive and hazelnut orchards, the selection of suitable areas to position large bee farms, the monitoring of irrigation in cotton fields and anomalies occurring during the growing season. At the same time, major projects were implemented in the direction of evaluation of grain fields, identification and registration of pilot-type modern irrigation systems across the country based on satellite images. Significant work has been done on determining favorable areas for the purpose of positioning of fisheries, installing greenhouse complexes, and creating agricultural parks using satellite imagery in the liberated territories.
Climate change, one of the global problems, impacts the Earth in different ways. Within the framework of the state program, a database was created by identifying risk areas sensitive to climate change and showing signs of desertification in Azerbaijan, monitoring glaciers in the Greater and Lesser Caucasus Mountains, studying changes in the water level of the Kura River, and implementing major projects such as assessing the scale of forest fires and predicting their progress.
During the conference it was highlighted that developed countries have successful experience in the field of satellite remote sensing. In order to ensure more effective satellite services in those countries, state institutions work in coordination, and for this, a single conceptual document – state program is applied.
The State Program covering the years 2019-2022 was also a clear example of creating electronic information using satellite services in our country, increasing functional effectiveness and work efficiency by accelerating the work process.
The conference continued with an active exchange of ideas and discussion on the dynamic use of the satellite images.