By Alexander Pimenov
A contract has been signed by the Geoinformation Systems scientific and engineering enterprise of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, with the Innoter Geoinnovation Agency (GIA Innoter), to provide geospatial data.
According to the terms, the national operator of the Belarusian satellite is providing GIA Innoter with micro-frames of panchromatic and polyzonal imagery (files of RPC-coefficients for the total area of 2,740sq.km).
The Director of Geoinformation Systems, Sergey Zolotoy, tells us that data provided by the Belarusian operator will be used by GIA Innoter for research, in conjunction with American company Geo22. Satellite images will be used to determine the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of woodlands and wood species and to assess damage caused by forest fires, air pollution and illegal logging, for the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation of Nepal.
As in many other regions of the planet, forests in Nepal are being cut down and contaminated, leading to the extinction of birds, animals and plants. Nepal has been classified by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as a high-risk ecological zone in Asia.
