Newswise — Powerful new tools are available to help curb destructive actions resulting from global climate change and other environmental hazards.
Great technological strides are being made in using satellite and aerial remote sensing of Earth. This imagery is all the more beneficial when tied to analytical tools such as geographical information and satellite navigation systems.
How best to apply these technologies was the subject of a recent United Nations/Kenya/European Space Agency Regional Workshop on Integrated Space Technology Applications for Monitoring Climate Change Impact on Agricultural Development and Food Security.
Held in Nairobi, Kenya December 1-5, the primary objective of the regional workshop was to explore the use of integrated space technologies - such as Earth remote sensing and geographical information systems (GIS), navigation and positioning, telecommunications, and satellite meteorology.
Taking part in the meeting, Agnieszka Lukaszczyk, a space policy consultant for Secure World Foundation, presented "Building Appropriate Institutions to Support the Use of Earth Observations for Human Security."
Lukaszczyk also chaired a technical session at the meeting on Global and Regional Collaborations and Initiatives.
Thanks to a toolkit of space technologies an array of capabilities are possible, such as:-- Prediction, monitoring and early warning of climate-related disasters; -- Monitoring of environmental hazards such as flood, drought and desertification; and-- Improvement of regional food security such as sustainable agricultural development, land use and land cover change.
The workshop gathered leading experts to help raise awareness of national and regional decision makers and professionals concerning the potential utilization of space technology applications - to exchange experiences and to initiate practical pilot projects.
Political and institutional barriers
At the gathering, Lukaszczyk remarked that since the early 1960s, "the world has slowly but steadily moved toward greater use of outer space to support a wide variety of economic, societal and security needs."
Lukaszczyk recognized that today, by making use of technology and space assets, there is significantly more and higher quality data available " and far more quickly than ever before.
Nevertheless, much work remains. For one, there is uncoordinated use of data collected, Lukaszczyk noted, including a lack of data format standards and an overall lack of understanding of the needs of the end-user of the data.
"The use of Earth observations technologies for rapid disaster response and assistance, the tracking of vector-borne disease, and improvements in weather forecasting, resource management and agricultural production are especially critical for human security needs," she said. "However, political and institutional barriers often undercut the promise that space technologies offer to people in need."
To access the complete paper, authored by Lukaszczyk and Ray Williamson, Executive Director of Secure World Foundation, please go to:
http://www.secureworldfoundation.org/siteadmin/images/Kenya%20presentation.pdf
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