Upon the invitation of the Government of Malawi through its Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) UN-SPIDER successfully carried out a Technical Advisory Mission to Malawi from 14 to 18 October 2013. Supported by the Government of Austria, UN-SPIDER invited nine experts with a broad range of expertise and diverse backgrounds in the space-technology sector, disaster management and crowdsourcing to join the mission team. The team met with key national, international institutions and organisations in Malawi to discuss the current use of space-based information and technology in the country.
A one day national workshop conducted on 18 October 2013 brought together over 40 participants and stakeholders from the academia, ministries, departments, NGOs and international organisation. A great variety of subjects were addressed including remote sensing applications for disaster risk management, land use planning for disaster prevention, the added value of satellite-derived soil moisture assessments, the need to share geospatial information, the regional efforts for spatial data infrastructure and the need to access existing international mechanisms that make available satellite information to support emergency response.
UN-SPIDER will coordinate with DoDMA the possible follow-up actions that could increase awareness about and use of geospatial technologies in disaster risk management and emergency response in Malawi.
