Interview of Aarti Holla-Maini, director of UNOOSA, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.
“The transformative power of space solutions should not be underestimated. We urgently need to replicate and scale best practices to support local action and save lives.”
Space is a key tool for advancing on the Sustainable Development Goals. Satellite communications help bridge the digital divide. They bring connectivity to isolated communities.They enable access to education and healthcare. They enable digital financial inclusion and many other applications that all rely on access to the Internet backbone. When disaster strikes, satellites enable lifesaving communications, when other communications infrastructure has been destroyed. Satellite imagery allows us to measure and monitor the state and pace of changes on our planet such as the melting of the polar ice caps, the state of deforestation or ocean temperature rise. If we can put high resolution imagery into the hands of governments, then we can empower them to take action at the local level, such as providing early warning and evacuation in case of pending storms or floods that are on the rise with the effects of climate change. If we had not seen it from Space, we would not even know that there was a climate crisis at all.
Space is a key tool for advancing on the Sustainable Development Goals. Satellite communications help bridge the digital divide. They bring connectivity to isolated communities.They enable access to education and healthcare. They enable digital financial inclusion and many other applications that all rely on access to the Internet backbone. When disaster strikes, satellites enable lifesaving communications, when other communications infrastructure has been destroyed. Satellite imagery allows us to measure and monitor the state and pace of changes on our planet such as the melting of the polar ice caps, the state of deforestation or ocean temperature rise. If we can put high resolution imagery into the hands of governments, then we can empower them to take action at the local level, such as providing early warning and evacuation in case of pending storms or floods that are on the rise with the effects of climate change. If we had not seen it from Space, we would not even know that there was a climate crisis at all.
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