The Land Cover Working Group(LCWG) of
the Asian Association on Remote Sensing (AARS)

Name of the working group:
The official name of the LCWG is "1-km land cover database of Asia", but it is often called simply "Land Cover Working Group(LCWG)".

Established
at the general conference of the AARS on October 16, 1993 at Tehran, Iran

Purpose of the working group:
(1) Producing land cover database of Asia and near Asia with the resolution of 1 km using NOAA AVHRR data
(2) Contributing to the production of global land cover database by cooperating with other organizations or groups which has the land cover database of other continents.

Chairman of the working group:
Dr. Ryutaro Tateishi
Center for Environmental Remote Sensing
Chiba University
1-33 Yayoi-cho Inage-ku Chiba 263 Japan
Phone: +81-43-290-3850
Fax: +81-43-290-3857
Email: tateishi@rsirc.cr.chiba-u.ac.jp

Background of the establishment of the working group:
Global land cover data is one of the basic and important data both for science and for policy related to the global environment. NOAA AVHRR data is the most suitable data for the development of the global land cover data at present. EROS Data Center, the United States, is developing 1-km global land AVHRR data set for the period during April 1993 and September 1994 with the cooperation of NASA, NOAA, ESA and IGBP. Some organizations have already produced 1-km continental land cover data sets using AVHRR data. For example, EROS Data Center produced and is distributing 1-km land cover data set of the whole United States. The IGBP-DIS is producing global land cover data set. Manitoba Remote Sensing Center, Canada, finished the production of 1-km land cover data set of Canada. Also the Woods Hole Research Center, the United States, produced 1-km land cover data set of South America. However there was no on-going project for the Asian regions at the time of the establishment of this working group, LCWG/AARS. The chairman of the working group believes that Asian countries must have responsibility of the production of land cover data set of the whole Asia, and that Asian countries must contribute to the development of the global land cover data set by providing land cover information of Asia.

Working group members:
49 members from 29 countries/regions

Australia
- Mr. Murray Wilson
CSIRO, Division of Wildlife & Ecology
- Dr. Sumith Pathirana
Centre for Coastal Management
- Dr. Waqar Ahmad
Northern Territory University
Bangladesh
- Dr. A.M. Choudhury
Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization (SPARRSO)
- Mr. Abul Kalam
Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization (SPARRSO)
- Mr. A.Z.M. Zahedul Islam
Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization (SPARRSO)
Brunei
- Miss Hajah Salmahwati Bte Haji Mohsin
Survey Department
Cambodia
- Mr. Ho Vichit
Technical Department
Ministry of Industry Mines and Energy
China
- Prof. Wang Changyao
Institute of Remote Sensing Applications
China Taipei
- Dr. Gin-Rong Liu
National Central University
- Dr. Wann-Jin Chen
Chung Cheng Institute of Technology
India
- Mr. V.S. Hegde
ISRO Headquarters
- Dr. N. Krishnan
Department of Environmental Remote Sensing & Cartography
Madurai Kamaray University
- Dr. Krishnaier Natarajan
Indonesia
- Mr. Priyadi Kardono
National Coordination Agency for Surveys and Mapping
(BAKOSURTANAL)
Iran
- Mr. Ahmad Mohammadpour (until September 1998)
- Mr. Farrokh Barzegar (from October 1998)
Iranian Remote Sensing Center
Japan
- Dr. Ryutaro Tateishi
CEReS, Chiba University
- Dr. Yoshiaki Honda
CEReS, Chiba University
- Dr. Koji Kajiwara
CEReS, Chiba University
Jordan
- Mr. Harahsheh Hussein
Royal Jordanian Geographic Centre
Kazakhstan
- Dr. Natali P. Ogar
Institute of Botany and Phytointroduction
Korea
- Dr. Kye-hyun Kim
Inha Universtiy
- Dr. Eui-hong Kim
Woosong University
- Dr. Yong-il Kim
Seoul National University
Kuwait
- Dr. Andy Kwarteng
KISR, EES/Remote Sensing Group
Malaysia
- Mr. Loh Kok Fook
Malaysian Centre for Remote Sensing
Mongolia
- Mr. Bayarjargal Ynden
National Remote Sensing Center
- Mrs.Gombosurengiin Tsolmon
Research Institute of Pasture and Land Management
- Dr. M. Saandar
Monmap Engineering Services Co., Ltd
Myanmar
- Mr. U Ye Myint
Department of Meteorology & Hydrology
Nepal
- Dr. Swoyambhu Man Amatya
Forest Research & Survey Centre
New Zealand
- Mr. Peter Stephens
Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd
Pakistan
- Mr. Jawed Ali
Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO)
- Miss Amina Rangoonwala
Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO)
Philippines
- Ms. Ma. Consuelo D. Garcia
National Mapping & Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA)
Russia
- Prof. Nikolai Kharin
Centre on Problems of Ecology and Productivity of Forests
Singapore
- Mr. Yuen Ka Wei
Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers
Sri Lanka
- Mr. M.P. Salgado (until 1997)
- Mr. Ranasinghe Silva (from 1998)
Survey Department
- Mrs. Shyamalie Perera
Survey Department
- Dr. L. Kithsiri Perera
Weathernews Inc., Japan
Syria
- Mr. Abdul Rahim Loulou
General Organization of Remote Sensing (GORS)
- Mr. Nagi Assad
General Organization of Remote Sensing (GORS)
Thailand
- Dr. Darasri Dowreang
National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT)
- Dr. Chandra P. Giri
GRID-Bangkok
- Mr. Manu Omakupt
Suranaree University of Technology
Turkey
- Mr. Hikmet Kurar
Marmara Research Centre
Turkmenistan
- Dr. Serjei Kurbatov
Desert Research Institute
Vietnam
- Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thuong Hung (a representative for Vietnam)
National Centre for Natural Science and Technology
- Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duong
National Centre for Natural Science and Technology