Satellite services: a

powerful tool for risk

management-

Climate change and development cooperation 26 May 2010, La Rábida

Content

• What are satellite services?• Satellite services and climate

change induced risk management – good practice examples

• Satellite services and development cooperation

• About Eurisy

What are satellite services?

With the help of satellites three different types of unique services and information can be delivered :

• Images providing information from an unrivalled perspective

• Groundless telecommunications infrastructure with seamless coverage

• Precise information on global timing and positioning

“Climate change affects the quality of citizens’ lives and has enormous

economic implications. Space-based Earth observation has substantially

contributed to understanding the full scale of climate change, and without space applications we will not be able to tackle it and anticipate its

consequences”

J.M. Barroso, October 2009, Brussels

Risk management using satellite services

• Satellite services support all stages of the disaster management cycle:– Before: monitoring & early warning:

• Vulnerability assessment (asset mapping)• Detection of river/ocean level rise/landslides• Early detection and warning of fire and floods

– During:• Rapid re-establishment of communication infrastructure• Geo-localization of damaged areas• Tracking vehicles, goods (humanitarian aid) and people

(rescuers are themselves exposed to risk)

– After:• Damage assessment (important for the reconstruction phase,

for claiming insurance…)• Infrastructure repair works

Sardinia, IT

Forest fire management

• The Sardinian civil protection authority uses satellite maps of the burnt areas to assess damage

• Advantages:– Improvement of database > better,

complete and more accurateinformation on fires ( claims for compensation!)

– No more need for agents to goon field > more time for preventionactivities

– Improvement of the Regional FirePrevention Plan – eg. Regionalauthority issues and is able to enforce restrictions on grazing areas

Northern Corsica also uses satellite services for forest fire management

“Before [Satellite] services became available to us, our forestry agents were

mapping burnt areas one by one, referencing their limits on foot in the field. The limited accessibility of certain areas was causing a lot of problems. Satellites

offer a service that is both exhaustive and accurate.”

Henri RETALIProvincial Agriculture and Forestry Directorate of N Corsica

Tarascon, FR

Integrated crisis management

• Repeated disasters, European/national laws• How to improve risk management strategy?• Live supervision platform and ‘on the spot data

collection’

Pazardzhik, BG

Flood management• A professional information system allows the region to correctly assess vulnerabilities and plan the management of risk

• Improvement of the administrative capacity to use and manage information to fulfill EC directives (Flood directive) mandatory for all the countries of EU.

Morecambe Bay, UK

Flood management

• satellite imagery to monitor and modelise floods & assess impact of works on environment

• reinforcement work of the bay, while limiting impact on environment

Souss-Massa, MOR

Desertification management

• Satellite maps help the authorities identify changes: evolution of forestry surface, extension of irrigated zones and urbanised areas, evolution of water surfaces etc.

• With the help of this information a strategy could be set up to tackle the ongoing desertification of the region (impoverishment of vegetation, soil erosion, aggradation etc.)

• The results so far are positive: the set objectives in terms of reforestation, water and soil conservation have been reached ahead of schedule

“Development and technology enjoy an uneasyrelationship: within development circles thereis a suspicion of technology-boosters as too

often people promoting expensive, inappropriatefixes that take no account of development

realities. Indeed, the belief that there is a technologicalsilver bullet that can “solve” illiteracy,

ill health or economic failure reflects scant understandingof real poverty.

Yet if the development community turns itsback on the explosion of technological innovation

in food, medicine and information, it risksmarginalizing itself and denying developing

countries opportunities that, if harnessed effectively,could transform the lives of poor people

and offer breakthrough developmentopportunities to poor countries. ”

UNDP Human Development Report 2001

Satellite services and development cooperation (1)

• Climate change is a global problem which requires mutual support (Copenhagen Accord)

• The EU is working on extending GMES to Africa to reinforce African capacities on climate change

• Satellite services are particularly adapted for development cooperation no terrestrial infrastructure needed experiences easily transferable and quickly accessible

• The emphasis lies on sustainable capacity building

Satellite services and development cooperation (2)

• Local and regional authorities are the appropriate level to tackle risks induced by climate change, to exchange good practices and to provide capacity building

• Eurisy offers to be a free of charge ressource for local and regional authorities to learn more about satellite-based applications and their implementation

• Eurisy conducts grassroots approach and facilitates dialogue between regions and satellite service professionals

About Eurisy• European not for profit association (*1989), > 30 members and

associate members including the EC, ESA, and European most national space agencies

• Mission: anchoring the benefits of space to society

• Eurisy Programme for Regions: supporting regions and cities in making the most of satellite services

– 31/5-1/6 ‘Climate change’, Ljubljana, Slovenia

• Eurisy Programme for European Neighbourhood: facilitating exchanges between confirmed/potential users (such as regions, cities, SMEs) & service providers from Europe and its neighbourhood for development cooperation

– 14-15/10 ‘Sustainable development in the Mediterranean’, Rabat, Morocco– 2010-2011 Programme on ‘Satellite applications for sustainable development in

Africa’

• Role: neutral facilitator; connecting stakeholders – often for the first time – to promote horizontal synergies

www.eurisy.org

sebastian.rieder@eurisy.org

Thank you.