‘With this exhibition, the Bavarian Ministry for Regional Development and the Environment wishes to bring to the attention of the public the advantages whi-ch derive from the satellite monitoring of our planet. For some years now in fact a close network of stations orbiting around the Earth periodically supply a wealth of data on the atmosphere and enable us to test the pulse of the planet on which we live. The novelty of a similar system lies in its ability to evidence from time to time the factors involving any specific research programme, si-gnalling for example even the smallest quantities of toxic elements in the at-mosphere or detecting those areas of the Earth with the greatest concentra-tions of heavy metals, or again, supplying precise data on the melting of the polar caps. A system of this type, based on sophisticated pictures taken at a di-stance of 800 kilometres finally enables us to keep a constant check on our planet and launch an early warning of any dangers for mankind. It furthermore allows us, after decades of approximation, to make a preventive calculation of all those risk factors to which the environment is exposed. The Bavarian re-gion, whose Ministry for the Environment is organising the exhibition, is un-doubtedly well ahead in the development and elaboration of these complicated systems which, inter alia, require massive investments and close international cooperation. The exhibition organised for the Meeting will consist of nume-rous panels illustrating the incredible possibilities opened up by satellite moni-toring: infra-red pictures which show up the different temperatures of the land, covering enormous geographical areas (scale 1:500) or small areas of territory (scale 1:2,000,000); ultra-violet pictures which, far example, thanks to the dif-ferent shades of colour, show the state of health of the tropical rain forests; diagrams of the atmosphere at different altitudes from which it is possible to detect the concentration of pollutants. And these are only a few examples.’