United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
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Commission on Sustainable Development considers the role of space technology to achieve sustainable development
As part of the thematic discussion of the Commission on Sustainable Development on Inter-linkages and cross-cutting issues, Mazlan Othman, Director of the
UN Office for Outer Space, today addressed the role of space technology and its applications in achieving sustainable development.
Speaking earlier to the press, Kathleen Abdalla, Officer-in-Charge of the Division for Sustainable Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs stated that the causes of the global food crisis included the growing world population, changing diets and lack of investment in agriculture, as well as insufficient aid for agricultural development. Ms. Abdalla further stressed that the Commission was tackling those issues in a holistic way, looking into long-term solutions and trying to identify the main challenges, as well as the ways to move forward.
In that context, Ms. Othman presented to the Commission the report entitled " Contribution of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to the work of the Commission on Sustainable Development for the thematic cluster 2008-2009", also issued as Background Paper No.2 to CSD-16. The objective is to raise awareness and demonstrate that space-based technologies and their applications, such as Earth observation systems, meteorological satellites, communication satellites and global navigation satellite systems, are frequently used to support the monitoring and assessment of the environment, managing the use of natural resources, supporting early warning systems and disaster management activities and contributing to providing education and health services in rural and remote areas.
In her speech, Ms Othman pointed to examples that capture the role of space technology applications in contributing to one of the crucial issues under consideration, namely food security. She stressed the benefits of international cooperation in developing, deploying and disseminating space technology applications, which help achieve multiple impacts and objectives in the CSD thematic cluster of issues, including agriculture and land use.
The report of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space shows that space technology offers a wide range of tools for overcoming obstacles to sustainable development. Today a large number of global and regional mechanisms and initiatives exist to support Member States in taking advantage of space solutions. Ms. Othman noted however that "There still remains work to be done to overcome duplication of efforts and to bring different stakeholders together - decision-makers, science community and user community".
It is encouraging that in this relation the General Assembly in its resolution 62/217 of 21 December 2007 mandated the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to continue to assess the contributions by space technology and applications to the thematic clusters of the Commission on Sustainable Development and to engage in a dialogue with the Commission in that regard.