The IGARSS 2006 conference theme, “Remote Sensing – A Natural Global Partnership”
The theme reflects the increasing interconnectedness among individuals working within a host of different types of organizations in understanding and managing the global environment. Each year as populations in all regions of the world grow in both number and standard of living, strains on our Earth’s natural resources, its numerous coupled environmental systems, and our own sociopolitical systems also increase. Optimal management of our environment, improved public safety, and sustained prosperity increasingly depend on timely and accurate information on a number of global and regional environmental variables. Concomitant with this need is the underlying requirement for continually improving our understanding of the behavior of environmental systems at all temporal and spatial scales, and especially the interaction of connected environmental systems. Remote sensing is a key element of this important endeavor and an activity that naturally engenders partnerships at various levels – such as among industry, government and academia – as well as critical international partnerships.