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GEO Members to access “Space and Major Disasters” Charter
The International Charter on "Space and Major Disasters" provides a unified system for delivering space-based data to countries addressing natural and man-made disasters. Soon for the first time all GEO Member governments will be able to access this valuable instrument.
The Charter was initiated in 1999 by the European and French space agencies (ESA and CNES); the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) joined the following year. Access to the Charter is currently available solely through the network of Authorized Users and cooperating bodies or through a bilateral agreement with an Authorized User country.
As of today, the number of Authorized Users and cooperating bodies is limited; in particular, 45 GEO Member countries do not have Authorized User status. The GEO Secretariat therefore asked the Charter in 2008 to consider putting in place the necessary provisions and mechanisms to enable the competent authorities of all GEO Members to have access to the Charter during emergencies. It also requested access to the archives of previous interventions so that GEO Members can fully exploit the value of images, observations and derived products to better plan for rehabilitation, mitigation and prevention measures.
In response to the GEO request, in May 2008 the Board of the Charter unanimously endorsed the principle of “universal access” for all states. To put this principle into practice, the Secretariat prepared a detailed implementation plan designed to ensure Charter access for all GEO Members. A report outlining this proposed plan was sent recently to the Charter to be reviewed by the Board when it meets next month.
Once it is adopted by the Charter Board and implemented, the implementation plan will allow all GEO Member countries to benefit from the Charter. It will not be binding, however, and GEO Member countries will retain the possibility of instead establishing their own bilateral agreements with the Charter. Once the proposal is accepted by the Charter Board, interested GEO Members and Participating Organizations will work with the Charter on its implementation. |
