Budapest, 18 September 2025 – The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), through its UN-SPIDER programme, joined global experts, scientists, and disaster risk managers at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Global Flood Partnership (GFP), held from 15 to 17 September at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME). The conference, focused on the evolving challenges and opportunities in flood protection, brought together over 70 participants from across five continents.

Since late June 2025, unusually heavy monsoon rains have led to widespread flooding in Pakistan, claiming hundreds of lives, destroying infrastructure, and submerging large areas of farmland. Millions of people have been affected, with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) describing the disaster in eastern Punjab province as the most severe in its history.

Bonn, [12th September 2025] — The University of Bonn, the International Peace Alliance (IPA Space), and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) have signed a four-year partnership to advance global capacity-building in the peaceful use of space technology.

Background

Following the completion of the Tonga Disaster Preparedness Pilot Project, national authorities identified an urgent need for reliable vegetation datasets to strengthen their environmental reporting and climate action planning. Palm trees are not only a defining feature of Tonga’s landscapes but also a key component of the Agriculture, Forestry & Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector under the UNFCCC reporting framework.

Esri, NOAA, and Dewberry have joined forces to modernize mapping across 64 remote and underserved communities in Alaska. Many of these communities are located in the state’s vast Unorganized Borough, which covers nearly half of Alaska and has limited local government capacity. Reliable maps are often outdated or incomplete, leaving significant gaps in planning and emergency response.

Less than three weeks after its launch, the first MetOp Second Generation (MetOp-SG-A1) satellite has begun transmitting data from two of its six instruments, signaling a new stage in European weather and climate monitoring. Launched on August 13, 2025 aboard an Ariane 6 rocket from the European Spaceport in French Guiana, the satellite is currently undergoing commissioning. MetOp-SG-A1 is the first satellite in the EUMETSAT Polar System - Second Generation, which enhances Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models and provides essential atmospheric and oceanic observations.

Best Practice: Leveraging Microsatellite Innovation for Global Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Space Development — The Case of Hokkaido University

Introduction: Microsatellites for Public Good