UN-SPIDER and the Centre for Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces of the University of Bonn (ZFL) joined forces to organise the UN-Spider/ZFL Expert Meeting ‘Confronting the Challenges of Natural Hazards and Climate Change: Solutions from the Space Community’ on 02 December 2024. The Expert Meeting was organised as a pre-event to the United Nations World Space Forum 2024, also held in the UN Campus in Bonn, Germany.
The expert meeting brought together experts representing disaster management institutions, space agencies, other government agencies, and academia from Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Namibia, Nigeria, Peru, Somalia, and the United States of America; as well as staff from the UN-SPIDER programme of the United Nation Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and from the Institute for Environment and Human Security of the United Nations (UNU-EHS).
During his opening remarks, the Deputy Director of UNOOSA stressed the fact that developing countries are unproportionally more vulnerable to disasters triggered by natural hazards. This requires practical solutions to mitigate the risks and to build a more resilient world for future generations. The Head of the UN-SPIDER Bonn Office emphasized the strong collaboration between ZFL and UN-SPIDER within the SPEAR project, commenting that the collaboration started in 2017 and that ZFL is one of the UN-SPIDER Regional Support Offices.
Experts from the space community raised awareness regarding novel solutions developed by the space community as well as ongoing efforts being implemented by space agencies of African countries. Experts from the scientific and private sectors presented information regarding recent developments in AI for Earth observation and the use of digital twins for disaster management. Digital twins combine advanced visualization tools with AI and allow decision-makers in disaster management to simulate the impact of floods and other disasters.
The experts agreed that effective disaster management requires strong networks to connect stakeholders across sectors. Building awareness and fostering collaboration is essential to ensuring solutions by the space community are widely utilised and beneficial.
