UN-SPIDER Workshop Space-based Disaster Solutions

20 September 2007, 1:23pm

Khartoum, Sudan, 09 – 12 December 2007

United Nations/Sudan International UN-SPIDER Workshop: Space-based Solutions for Disaster Management and Emergency Response

Organized by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and the Remote Sensing Authority of Sudan - with the support of The Government of Austria

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), through its new programme the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER), and the Remote Sensing Authority of Sudan are organising the above United Nation/Sudan International UN-SPIDER Workshop to promote the access and use of space technology for disaster management and emergency response within the region and also to promote and strengthen the role of National Focal Points (NFP) within this new programme.

In its resolution 61/110 of 14 December 2006 the United Nations General Assembly agreed to establish the “United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response – UN-SPIDER”, as a new programme of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, to provide universal access to all countries and all relevant international and regional organizations to all types of space-based information and services relevant to disaster management to support the full disaster management cycle by being a gateway to space information for disaster management support, serving as a bridge to connect the disaster management and space communities and being a facilitator of capacity-building and institutional strengthening, in particular for developing countries.

To support this new programme each government should nominate a National Focal Point (NFP) which should be the national institution(s) representing the disaster management and/or space application communities. These NFPs will work with UN-SPIDER to strengthen national disaster management planning and policies and in the implementation of specific national activities that incorporate space-based technology solutions to support disaster management.

As part of the outreach activities of this new programme, workshops are being organized in 2007 to raise awareness within the user community, to assess its needs and to contribute to specific activities of UN-SPIDER. Specifically, in Sudan UN-SPIDER will be organising together with the Remote Sensing Authority of Sudan this United Nations/Sudan International UN-SPIDER Workshop for the benefit of Northern and Eastern Africa and Western Asia.

Additionally this International UN-SPIDER Workshop will be an opportunity to build upon the results of the United Nations/European Space Agency/Sudan Regional Workshop on the Use of Space Technology for Natural Resource Management, Environmental Monitoring and Disaster Management, which was held in Khartoum, 4-8 April 2004, and also the United Nations/Algeria/European Space Agency International Seminar on the Use of Space Technology for Disaster Management: Prevention and Management of Natural Disasters which was held in Algiers, 22-26 May 2005.

“The Khartoum Vision: a Vision for Building Partnerships in the Use of Space Technologies”, which was agreed upon by the participants of the Khartoum workshop, presents a road map to consolidate the use of space-based technologies in Africa and Western Asia in the areas of natural resource management, environmental monitoring and disaster management. This road map was further developed in the Algiers workshop the following year. At this workshop the participants recognised the leadership of the Algerian Space Agency, the Directorate-General for Civil Protection of Algeria, the Remote Sensing Authority of the Sudan and the Royal Centre for Remote Sensing of Morocco, in the coordination of regional efforts to ensure the access and use of space-based technologies for disaster management within the region.

Full details available from:

http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/unspider/workshops.html

www.unoosa.org

Geo: International