The United Nations International Conference on Space-based Technologies for Disaster Management - "Disaster Risk Identification, Assessment and monitoring“ was successfully inaugurated on 23 October 2013 in Beijing, China. This conference held from 23 to 25 October 2013 is co-organized by UNOOSA and the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), in collaboration with the Department of Treaty and Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of PRC, the Department of Social Security, the Ministry of Finance of PRC, the Department of System Engineering, China National Space Administration of PRC, the Asia Pacific Space Cooperation Organization and with the support of DigitalGlobe.
163 participants from 27 countries representing more than 60 organizations including 7 international/regional organizations, government agencies, universities, private companies and NGOs are participating in the conference. The conference brings together numerous countries that have received Technical Advisory Support from UN-SPIDER, as well as representatives of countries that are willing to work with the UN-SPIDER in the future. In addition to sharing knowledge, exchanging ideas, and developing networks, the conference will also serve as a platform for planning UN-SPIDER activities including Technical Advisory missions, capacity building programmes and outreach events.
A total of 5 plenary sessions and 3 working group discussions will be held consisting of 48 presentations. The plenary sessions will cover following themes:
- Operational initiatives/programmes/projects on disaster risk identification, assessment and monitoring
- Advanced research and development in use of space based information in Disaster risk assessment
- Cooperation mechanism for improving disaster risk
- Preparing for effective disaster response and rapid mapping by knowing risks management
- National experiences and best practices.
In addition, three working groups will discuss drought monitoring, UN-SPIDER Technical Advisory Support Activities as well as advances in technology for disaster risk management.
The opening ceremony of the conference was graced by Mr. Pang Chenmin, Deputy Director General, Office of China National Committee for Disaster Reduction, Director General, Department of Disaster Relief, Ministry of Civil Affairs of PRC and National Disaster Reduction Centre of China; Mr. Li Guoping, Deputy Director General, Department of System Engineering, China National Space Administration; Ms. Ren Xiaoxia, Deputy Director, Department of Treaty and Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PRC; Mr. Shirish Ravan, Head, UN-SPIDER Beijing Office; Mr. Guo Huadong, Academician from Chinese Academy of Sciences, China and Mr. Zhang Wei, Secretary General, Asia Pacific Space Cooperation Organisation.
All conference presentations will be made available on the UN-SPIDER Knowledge Portal.
