One of the panels at the space conference in Hyderabad dealt with the use by the various UN agencies of space technologies to promote the inhabitants of the third world
Tal Inbar, Hyderabad
In 2007, the international space community celebrates the 50th anniversary of the space age as well as the 40th anniversary of one of the main international agreements dealing with space, the International Outer Space Treaty from 1967. The treaty includes essential principles for the management of activities in space and in particular the freedom to carry out activities in outer space without the expansion into outer space of the boundaries of geographical sovereignty.
Over the years, the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN-COPUOS), which held its 50th convention in June 2007, continued to build a body of international conferences and a general council that make decisions that form the backbone the law for space management as well as recommended practices in many areas of space activity.
One of the events as part of the conference in Hyderabad focused on the many contributions of the UN system to the development and use of space in peacetime, in which presentations were made by senior officials from the UN, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the International Meteorological Organization (WMO) and UNESCO. The moderator was Gerard Brachet, UN-COPUS chairman and the speakers were Sergio Camacho Lara (UN) Yvonne Henry (ITU), Jeremy Langueza (WMO) and Mario Hernandez (UNESCO).
After a brief presentation of the topics and speakers by the moderator, Camacho told the development of UN-OOSA and COPUOS. He told about the achievements of the Kopus subcommittee on legal matters, including the five space agreements, detailed the achievements of the science and technology subcommittee, as well as the achievements towards the adoption of space debris distribution guidelines and the assimilation of the conclusions of UNISPACE Convention 3.
Then the representative of the ITU, Yvonne Henry spoke about the development of the union and explained the goals and the regulations adopted to achieve them. He spoke about the upcoming radio conference, WRC 2007 which will be held in November and said that the ambitions of the ITU are to connect the world.
The representative of the WMO, Jeremiah Langosa spoke about the activities of the organization and how it uses space assets effectively to support these goals. He believes that in the future initiatives are expected to be developed towards better coordination and utilization of space assets through the elimination of duplication.
UNESCO's presentation highlighted the use of space technologies to monitor World Heritage sites. Hernandez also touched on the extensive use of space technology by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. He also spoke about the difficulties in persuading decision makers to allocate resources to space asset-based activities, when they are focused on food and providing shelter and security to humans in the developing world. He concluded the presentation with an optimistic note and cited the example of the Indian space agency ISRO, which showed the world that investing in space creates more resources than investing in them and doubles development achievements.
