United Nations International Workshop on the Use of Space Technology for Disaster Management in Munich, October 18-22, 2004

Organised jointly by: Co-organised by:		The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) on behalf of the Government of Germany The European Space Agency (ESA) the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR)

Earth observation satellites and other space-based technologies can contribute to providing significant and unique solutions in all disaster management areas: disaster mitigation, disaster preparedness, disaster relief and also disaster rehabilitation. Solutions based on remote sensing data and (Crisis)-Information Systems are already an integral part of disaster management activities in many developed and developing countries. Even though national capabilities in the use of space technologies in most of the countries worldwide are increasing at a significant rate, there is still a definite need to support the transfer and implementation of these available technologies.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, within the framework of its Programme on Space Applications, has been organising a series of Regional Workshops on the Use of Space Technology for Disaster Management, bringing together practitioners, space agencies that have already developed respective technology solutions and those responsible for dealing with disaster management and with space technology in developing countries.

The following are the regional workshops on the use of space technology for disaster management that UNOOSA has carried out:

• Latin America and the Caribbean - La Serena, Chile, 13-17 November 2000
• Africa - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1-5 July 2002
• Asia and the Pacific - Bangkok, Thailand, 11-15 November 2002
• Europe - Poiana-Brasov, Romania, 19-23 May 2003
• Western Asia - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2-6 October 2004

The final international workshop, was held in Munich, Germany, brought together the results of the previous five regional workshops. It was an opportunity to build upon the results of each workshop and contributed to the definition of a global strategy and of global partnerships on the longterm but also midterm concepts at the regional level were discussed.