The meeting on the Identification of needs of Member States and United Nations entities for capacity building in the use of space-based observations was held jointly by the UN-Space and the CEOS Working Group on Capacity Building and Data Democracy (CEOS WGCapD) at the Vienna International Centre from 1 to 3 March 2023, in a hybrid format. The meeting was organized by the Office of Outer Space Affairs in its capacity as secretariat of UN-Space, and as Chair of CEOS WGCapD.
CEOS is a consortium of 63 agencies operating satellites worldwide working together to ensure international coordination of civil, space-based, Earth observation programs for the benefit of all. The Working Group on Capacity Building and Data Democracy is a subsidiary body of CEOS , which aims to unify CEOS efforts toward providing wider and easier access to Earth Observation data, increasing the sharing of software tools such as the use of open source software and open systems interface, increasing data dissemination capabilities and transferring relevant technologies to end users, and providing intensive capacity building, education, and training (including awareness and outreach) for enabling end users to gather the information they need and for increasing communication on achieved results.
The objective of the meeting was to strengthen cooperation among various stakeholders, in particular Member States, space agencies and other entities represented in CEOS, and United Nations entities. The meeting was focused on identifying needs of Member States and United Nations entities as end-users of space-derived information; barriers to using such information, and opportunities for addressing those barriers and supporting end-users in the areas of education and training, user uptake, software tools, data access and infrastructure related to Earth observation, by agencies and organizations from the CEOS community.
Representatives of the following Member States of the United Nations attended the sessions: Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, France, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Russian Federation, Senegal, Slovakia, South Africa, Sudan, Sweden, Thailand, Türkiye, Uganda, United States of America, and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of).
The following United Nations were represented: Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), secretariat of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Maritime Organization (IMO), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Office for Outer Space Affairs, Secretariat of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (GGIM) at the United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs, UN-Habitat, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD), secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Global Pulse, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), World Food Programme (WFP), and World Health Organization (WHO).
The session was also attended by the representatives of the African regional centre for space science and technology education in the English language; the Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific, located in India; and the Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The session was also attended by representatives of CEOS, CEOS Working Group on Capacity Building and Data Democracy (WGCapD), CEOS Working Group on Disasters, CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services, CEOS Working Group on Biodiversity, Earth Observation Training, Education and Capacity Development Network (EOTEC DevNet) Asia-Oceania, EOTEC DevNet Africa, EOTEC DevNet Americas, EOTEC DevNet Europe.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) also attended the session.
The meeting took place over three full days, with the first day devoted to the examination of the needs of different regions. Representatives of United Nations entities and regional centres for space science and technology education, affiliated to the United Nations, presented their user requirements and challenges in the field of Earth observation. Representatives from EOTEC DevNet provided an overview of the resources that the network has created and the communities of practice that are being formed regionally under its auspices. The limited awareness of decision-makers at national level of the potential of space-based observations for development emerged as a common challenge for all the regions.
The second day of the meeting sought to uncover the needs of different United Nations entities in Earth observation data, as well as synergies in their work, and the identification of patterns in those needs. The different presentations showed that Earth observations were widely used in the United Nations system as a valuable source of information. Each entity also expressed its needs for space-derived information and barriers to utilize that.
The work of several CEOS Working Groups was presented to introduce opportunities and resources that were readily available for use and could complement the resources and activities shown during that day. The last day comprised presentations from space agencies and other CEOS WGCapD members on their activities and resources, some of them directly providing an answer to those needs presented in the previous sessions. The session concluded with a road-mapping exercise identifying actions and activities to be discussed in the CEOS WGCapD meetings.
The meeting was the first opportunity for the UN-Space members to meet with space agencies working in the field of Earth observation. This allowed, on one hand, for United Nations entities and Member States to express needs and barriers in terms of Earth observation capacity-building and data access and on the other hand, for the space agencies to show already existing resources and ongoing activities that could support the needs expressed. During the meeting, connections were made, and actions were identified to tackle the issues expressed by the entities participating.
The meeting participants underscored the value of such meetings and requested the Office for Outer Space Affairs to consider the organization of similar capacity-building events in the future.
Provisional agenda is available here