UN-SPIDER hosted a Technical Expert Meeting in Bonn, Germany, to further develop the “Namibian SensorWeb Pilot project on integrated flood management and water- and vector-borne disease modelling’. This meeting brought together about thirty persons, among them a delegation from the Department of Water Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture Water and Forestry (MAWF) in Namibia, representatives from the German Space Agency (DLR), NASA, NOAA, Ukraine Space Research Institute (SRI), City University of New York, Johns Hopkins University – Bloomberg School of Public Health as well as colleagues from other UN organisations located in Bonn such as UNU-EHS, UNISDR-PPEW and UNW-DPC.
A delegation of the expert group presented the pilot project initiative to the Namibian ambassador in Germany, Excellency Neville Gertze, visiting the UN-Campus in Bonn.
The pilot is envisaged to combining high resolution satellite imagery with in-situ data and modelling approaches in order to derive useful flood and water-borne disease forecasting tools for local decision makers in the sense of a scientifically sound, operational transboundary flood management system for the Southern African region. Submission of proposal to international donors is foreseen to implement this joint effort.
