United NationsOffice for Outer Space Affairs

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Theme

The 2022 UN/Austria Symposium "Space for climate action: experiences and best practices in mitigating and adapting to climate change and supporting sustainability on Earth" will take place from 13 to 15 September online. The focus of the symposium is to showcase the most recent initiatives, experiences and best practices in mitigating and adapting to climate change and supporting sustainability on Earth. Further to creating awareness of how Member States use space technologies, the symposium will highlight how the space sector is being adapted to reduce its own impact on the climate crisis. The symposium would collect ideas and contributions to define future activities.

To raise awareness of relevant space-related activities, services and cooperation programmes among different user groups, the symposium will gather government officials, the diplomatic community, UN and international agencies as well as NGOs.

Background

The UN/Austria Symposium has taken place in Graz, Austria, since 1994. It is an activity of the Programme of Space Applications of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. Since the first symposium entitled "Enhancing Social, Economic and Environmental Security through Space Technology", more than 3,100 participants have attended the events. They addressed a variety of themes, ranging from security to youth, as well as the use of space for sustainable development, space accessibility, and international cooperation. The last edition focused on space applications for food systems in conjunction with the UN Food Systems Summit.

The symposia series has provided a forum for discussion between the different stakeholder groups of the wider space community, including the diplomatic community, the private sector and academia, as well as UN entities. The main purpose of the symposia remains to enable discussions on the use of space tools and applications, with an interdisciplinary viewpoint, addressing technology development and policymaking.

Objectives

The purpose of the symposium is to showcase the most recent initiatives where space technologies and space applications are actively contributing to mitigation and adaptation to climate change and to demonstrate how the space sector is being adapted to reduce its own impact on the climate crisis.

The symposium has the following objectives:

• To promote the exchange of best practices and solutions to meet the demand and needs of developing countries in mitigating and adapting to climate change.
• To demonstrate how initiatives based on space applications have been successfully developed and implemented in different countries.
• To share experiences and explore how space-based services can be used to comply with or support policies about climate action according to national priorities, and how sustainability policies are being applied in the space sector.
• To present available toolboxes that have already been implemented through case studies or pilot projects at a country level to comply with regulations related to climate action, with the aim of encouraging the adoption of tested tools and approaches.
• To raise awareness of relevant space-related activities, services and cooperation programmes among different user groups, in particular government officials, the diplomatic community, UN and international agencies as well as NGOs.
• To report to the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space through the Scientific and Technical Sub-committee.

Programme

Dates and Venue

The symposium will be held from 13 to 15 September 2022. The symposium will be held online via Webex.

Working Methods

Speakers at the symposium are requested to deliver an oral presentation or a demonstration of a tool via the web-based communication platform. On Monday, 12 September 2022, presenters will have the opportunity to do a test run of their presentations online. Presentations made at the symposium will be published on the website of the Office for Outer Space Affairs (www.unoosa.org) prior to the symposium to facilitate the engagement of participants. 

Expected Participants

The symposium is aimed at members of the diplomatic community, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, research and development institutions, policy and decision-makers, senior experts, scientists, engineers and university educators, especially from developing countries.

Representatives from the various permanent missions of United Nations Member States in Vienna will be invited to the symposium, along with representatives from various United Nations agencies and other international organisations, with the aim of promoting dialogue not only between policy-makers but also with the private sector and end-users. Representatives from the space applications industry are also welcome to attend and present their solutions.

The Office for Outer Space Affairs is committed to supporting gender mainstreaming in its programmes and advocates for balanced representation from different perspectives.

Sponsorship

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and Austria are responsible for organising the Symposium. It is supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, the European Space Agency, AUSTROSPACE, the City of Graz, the Province of Styria, Joanneum Research and the Graz University of Technology.

Language

The working language of the symposium is English.

Registration

Registration closed on 7 September 2022. 

Post-Symposium training courses

Following the Symposium, UNOOSA is partnering with the European Space Agency (ESA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Applied Remote Sensing Training Programme (ARSET), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and Earth Observation Data Centre (EODC) to provide a variety of training courses under two broad themes, (1) sustainable space engineering practices, and (2) Earth Observation data for climate action. These online courses aim to raise awareness of the use of space applications and methodologies for climate action and enhance participants' capabilities to use them.

The trainings are delivered by subject matter experts and are conducted exclusively online. Some trainings include demonstrations using open-source data and software. The trainings consist of both theory and practical applications to consolidate the concepts learnt. By providing collaborative and interactive learning platforms, the trainings aim to connect participants from across the globe with experts and encourage exchange and flow of knowledge and ideas.

To learn more about the trainings, please click here.

Contact

For additional information, please contact  unoosa-events@un.org .