IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNISPACE II RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A GLOBAL
DISASTER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (ACTION TEAM 7)
A. Mahmood**, S. Parashar*, M. Larocque *, M.E. McGuire,
Li Chuanrong?, Tang Lingli^, J-L. Bessis?, J. Breton *, T. Chiku, S. Camacho"
* Canadian Space Agency, 6767 route de l'aéroport, Saint-Hubert, Québec, Canada, J3Y 8Y9 — (Ahmed.Mahmood,
Surendra.Parashar, Manon.Larocque, Mary Ellen.McGuire)@space.gc.ca
? China Remote Sensing Satellite Ground Station, 45 Bei San Huanxi Road, Beijing, P.R. China 100086 — (crli, Iltang)
(@ne.rsgs.ac.cn
* Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, 18, avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 4, France - (jean-luc.Bessis,
Jacques.Breton)@cnes. fr
? United Nations Office of the Outer Space Affairs (OOSA), Wagrametstrasse 5, A1220 Vienna, Austria — (Takemi.Chiku,
Sergio.Camacho)@unvienna.org
KEY WORDS: Earthquakes, Floods, Forest Fire, Hazards, Monitoring, Disaster, International
ABSTRACT:
Several action teams were constituted to pursue the recommendations of the 3" United Nations conference on the exploration and
peaceful uses of outer space (UNISPACE III) held in 1999, One of these teams was assigned the task to propose the implementation
of a global disaster management system, especially through the use of existing space resources and related services. After an
elaborate process of consultations, surveys, gap and need analysis, Action Team 7 has recently submitted its findings and
recommendations that are reported here. Natural and man-made disasters strike indiscriminately all parts of the world and require
coordinated international efforts to manage their effects and supplement the ongoing global approaches. Currently, there is some
emphasis on disaster response, but too little on prevention and mitigation. A large number of countries have little or no exposure to
the benefits of space systems, and there is a lack of single point of contact for assimilating the space-based information. The Team
is therefore recommending the implementation and funding options for an international space coordination body for disaster
management, nominally identified as the 'Disaster Management International Space Coordination Organization (DMISCO). Sucha
body would have the mandate to provide the necessary means to optimise the efficiency of current and future services for disaster
management. The concept would be based on a ' Disaster Management Space Support System (DMS3)' universally accessible to all
stakeholders: Users, emergency response and civil protection agencies, local and national authorities, lending institutions, value-
added service and product resellers, and space operators.
1. BACKGROUND initiatives to be taken in order to bring the benefits of space-
based information to all countries suffering from disasters.
1.1 Establishment of the Action Team
The activities, findings and recommendations of the Action
The U.N. Action Team on disaster management is one among Team presented in this article are covered in a detailed report
several that were formed based on the decision of the (A/AC.105/C.1/L.273) being submitted to the U.N. General
Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space Affairs Assembly for approval.
(COPUOS) at its 44" session to follow up on the
recommendations of UNISPACE III. Its membership was 1.2 Space and Disaster Management
derived from countries possessing advanced scientific and
technological capability and from those for which disaster The management of natural disasters is often beyond the scope
management was of special concern. Later, several other of ground and airborne capabilities and investing space
Member States, and entities of the United Nations system and technologies in disaster relief and mitigation is therefore well
organizations that had observer status with COPUOS also justified. = Given the inevitable occurrence of natural
joined the Action Team and contributed to its work. The Action phenomena, exacerbated by global environmental change,
Team was co-chaired by Canada, China and France, called aggravated ecological imbalances, the growing world
CCF, following their election by the participating states and ^ population, inappropriate human practices in terms of land use
approval by the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and land development and increasing pressures on natural
(STSC) The mandate of the Action Team relates to the resources, disasters are occurring at a growing frequency and
implementation of an integrated global system, especially ^ their consequential damage is on the rise. Reports show that,
through the international cooperation and the use of existing while the actual number of human losses is being contained
space and associated ground resources of Earth Observation and slowly by some preventive measures, the size of populations
other satellites. The Action Team was tasked to analyse the being affected by disasters is increasing (Walter, 2003). Human
current situation and to provide views and proposals on the loss and hardships are higher in countries already suffering
from low development and income levels. The effects of
* Corresponding author
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