On 5 February 2015, on the occasion of the 6th annual meeting of UN-SPIDER's Regional Support Offices (RSOs) in Vienna, UNOOSA/UN-SPIDER and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, signed a memorandum of understanding, making IWMI the 17th member of UN-SPIDER's network of RSOs. The memorandum was signed by UNOOSA's director Simonetta Di Pippo on behalf of UNOOSA and Dr Giriraj Amarnath on behalf of IWMI.
One of the major preventable causes for loss of lives during disasters is the failure of telecommunications infrastructure. Satellite communication networks are unaffected by natural disasters, but Broadband global area network (BGAN) satellite phones are too expensive for wide-scale deployment. By combining a portable base station with a satellite network back haul, emergency services could rapidly deploy a network to remote teams and headquarters to optimize the aid effort, and therefore safe tens, hundreds and even thousands of lives.
Session number four included presentations from UN-SPIDER Regional Support Offices and other supporting institutions, demonstrating the dynamically growing international network of the UN-SPIDER programme. The corresponding chapter portrays the work of a selection of UN-SPIDER partners and of the Programme itself.
UN-SPIDER: Supporting Disaster Management from Space
A comprehensive article by UN-SPIDER in the Disaster Management-special issue of Earthzine, covering UN-SPIDER's role and activities as well as the importance of space-based information for disaster management.
The importance of geosciences has increased steadily and rapidly over recent decades, with problems arising at local, regional, national, and international levels. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods and landslides threaten lives and infrastructure, the earth's population is growing rapidly, we have to deal with challenges regarding raw materials, clean water is not available everywhere, soil protection is a key issue, ecosystems are at risk, and we are facing the consequences of a changing climate.
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