In recent years, climate change, extreme weather, population growth and urbanization have led to an increasing number of people being threatened by compound disaster risks, and it has become a global challenge to mitigate disaster risks and reduce the loss of lives and property, or environmental damage. The need for early warning systems as preventative measure is more crucial than ever. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 explicitly calls for the development of multi-hazard early warning systems to improve their availability; Goal 3 "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages" and Goal 13 "Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts" of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development encourage countries to develop early warning systems; Article 7 "Enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change" and Article 8 "Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts" of the Paris Agreement also place a high priority on strengthening early warning systems.
In the given context, this International Conference will address issues raised above and continue identifying challenges, highlight solutions, and encourage partnerships for using space technologies in early warning systems to enhance collaboration and accelerate the realization of the EW4ALL.
The conference is organised by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) of the People’s Republic of China and implemented through the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER). It follows nine earlier annual conferences held since 2011, after a gap of four years because of the Covid pandemic. Previous conferences covered the themes of “Best practices for risk reduction and rapid response mapping” in 2011, “Risk assessment in the context of global climate change” in 2012, “Disaster risk identification, assessment and monitoring” in 2013, “Multi-hazard disaster risk assessment” in 2014, “A consolidating role in the implementation of the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030” in 2015, “Understanding disaster risks” in 2016, “Building resilience through integrated application” in 2017, “Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective emergency response” in 2018 and “A Policy Perspective” in 2019. These conferences offered a forum for disaster management communities and experts to strengthen their capabilities in using space-based information to identify, assess, monitor and respond to disaster risks and integrate space technology into long-term disaster risk management efforts, and connects them for direct interaction with the satellite technology providers.
The conference is organised in collaboration with the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the Asia Pacific Space Cooperation Organisation (APSCO) and the Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education for Asia and the Pacific (RCSSTEAP).
