As emphasized in Agenda 21, Chapter 40 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development dated 14 June 1992, in a broad sense everyone is a user and provider of information in pursuing sustainable development. While considerable data already exist, more and different types of data need to be collected at the local, provincial, national and international level, indicating the status and trends of the planet's ecosystem, natural resources, pollution and socio-economic variables. The availability, quality, coherence, standardization and accessibility of data between the developed and the developing world have been increasing, improving the capacities of countries to make informed decisions concerning environment and development. UNEP's EAP-AP programs are taking a proactive role in improving the environmental capacities of countries in the Asia Pacific region.

This project is directed in providing information about land cover at a regional scale for selected countries in the Asian region. The investigation of the NOAA AVHRR satellite data is directed towards the detection and monitoring of ecologically important vegetation types. This similar activity also highlights the areas where there is a major change of land cover (i.e. "hot spots"), both in temporal and spatial aspects.

The NOAA AVHRR data was found very useful for assessment and monitoring of land cover transformation at a macro scale. The harmonization of land cover categories was adopted in the interpretation of satellite data towards a more comprehensive regional resource assessment and information aggregation, an important decision input for the regional and national context. On a much wider scale, this kind of information could also be useful for global research and modelling, macro-economic studies, and assessment of the earth's state of environment. Major land cover types were enumerated as evergreen forest, deciduous forest, mangrove forest, scrubland, agricultural area, and water bodies. Site specific land categories like marshlands along the Mekong Delta in Vietnam and variations among agricultural practices in Bangladesh were separately noted.

As shifting cultivation continues to play a dominant role in forest type conversion, the typical transformation from one type of vegetation to another is apparent, especially for the increasing proportion of open woodlands and dry deciduous group from the original evergreen or semi-evergreen type. Yet, the expansion of originally recognized scrubland that denotes mostly the presence of crop cultivation is the main feature of land degradation. Such landscape modifications as discerned in the time series analysis of AVHRR data subsequently lead to increased attention for a deeper investigation of the area. The use of high resolution satellite data supplemented by field information are of vital importance. This will serve as an early warning system towards preventive measures in areas exhibiting major land transformation or active deforestation. The availability of other thematic data such as elevation, climate and soil type was also realized in trying to assist in understanding the various interacting factors that affect land cover dynamics and clarify limitations realize the error associated with the coarse spatial resolution data.

Up to date information on land cover variables and their nature of transformation offer a valuable guide in formulating appropriate policies and effective implementation of programs for several facets of resource management. The methodological guidelines and the country results generated under this study will dispense a worthwhile source of information in any future related-applications particularly in the Asian region. The availability of the AVHRR data in the South and Southeast Asian region was also evaluated to assess their applicability for similar or related efforts in the future. Moreover, a need for systematic data archiving policy that requires strengthening of the capabilities of a number of receiving stations in the Asian region has been noted. Likewise, a compatible software to handle myriads of information about the complex ecosystem of the region is required to enhance data availability and accessibility.

Finally, information and expertise dissemination through training are found essential in enhancing the sub-regional and national capability in perpetuating this valuable means of resource assessment and monitoring.