UN-SPIDER successfully conducted its Technical Advisory Mission to Ecuador between 29 Sept and 08 October of this year. The mission was conducted with the support of experts from INPE of Brazil, and CONAE of Argentina, and with two staff members from UN-SPIDER. The mission was coordinated at the national level with the National Secretariat for Risk Management, the Pro-Tempore Secretariat of the V Space Conference of the Americas, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador. The Mission benefited from the regional workshop conducted by UN-SPIDER a week earlier, as during the workshop many Ecuadorian agencies made presentations displaying how they were using space-based information for a variety of purposes targeting all phases of the disaster management cycle.
The mission was conducted through a series of institutional visits and meetings with representatives from the National Secretariat for Risk Management and with staff from the Pro-Tempore Secretariat in Ecuador. It allowed UN-SPIDER experts to recognize the fact that Ecuador is fairly well advanced in the use of space-based information for a variety of purposes. For example, for more than 30 years the Armed Forces of Ecuador have operated and the Remote Sensing Center CLIRSEN. CLIRSEN is recognized by many government agencies for its contributions to promote the use of space-based information for a variety of purposes. In addition, the Mission was made aware of the efforts which the recently-elected government is promoting towards a more efficient management and use of information to ensure a more transparent and efficient public investment.
The mission allowed UN-SPIDER to gain knowledge on the scope of activities conducted by Ecuador regarding the use of space-based information for disaster reduction, and will serve as a basis to provide the Government of Ecuador recommendations on how to improve its use of space-based information to support all phases of the disaster cycle. In addition, the mission and its outcomes will serve as a complementary example to the three missions which were previously conducted to African countries.
