ESA outlines 'earth observation for sustainable development' plan
As the outgoing chair of the committee on Earth observation satellites (CEOS), the European space agency (ESA) outlined its follow up plan to the world summit on sustainable development. CEOS currently consists of 23 space agencies, along with 20 other national and international bodies that participate in planning and activities. José Achache, ESA's director of Earth observation programmes and 2002 chairman for the group, outlined a modular plan for CEOS to coordinate the efforts of the international space community's follow up to the Johannesburg summit. 'There is no sustainable development without adequate information about the state of the Earth and its environment,' Mr Achache said. 'The challenge is how to integrate environmental observation data with socio-economic information for better decision making. The ESA plan identifies two of the five areas in the world summit on sustainable development (WSSD) plan of implementation where space-based Earth observation is essential to assist sustainable development activities. The first is aimed at education, training and capacity building; the second is focussed on management of water resources. The efforts on education will be led by the US national oceanic and atmospheric administration (NOAA), whose assistant administrator for satellite and information services, Gregory Withee, is the incoming chairman of CEOS. ESA and Japan's national space development agency will spearhead efforts on water resources. Stephen Briggs, head of ESA's Earth observation applications department, explained: 'The overall effort on sustainable development will not necessarily focus on Africa exclusively, but for ESA's element, our first interest is Africa.' Other CEOS members have indicated a willingness to develop additional activities in these two areas, and the ESA plan will allow them to contribute 'as and how they feel fit'. ESA gave details on their element of the plan, which they are calling the 'tiger project'. The project aims to provide the use of Earth observation data from ESA's Envisat satellite and other missions to assist in managing water resources in Africa. MR Achache said that the project would be 'driven by the needs of the local populations in developing countries, facilitate access to relevant Earth observation data, and transfer relevant technology to developing countries.' In looking ahead to NOAA's educational programme, Mr Withee noted the disparity between countries that have access to Earth observation data and those that do not. The CEOS response, he said, should be to 'conduct education and training workshops linked with societal needs.'