In South Asia, the monsoon season started early and strong this year. Nepal was particularly hit by heavy rainfall in June 2021: flooding and landslides were reported in many parts of the country and affected thousands of families. When the Rapid Mapping service was activated, the UNOSAT FloodAI pipeline was deployed and all products were sent to the Dashboard, turning it into a one-stop-shop for real-time evidence-based decision-making

John Wain, Senior Emergency Shelter Officer at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), recalled the evolution of their work and how UNOSAT supported them with satellite imagery analysis to better plan for new settlements.

9 August 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - Coastal communities in Small Island Developing States continue to suffer from the impacts of various hazards like flood, tropical cyclones, tsunami, and erosion. This case study presents how a relocation scenario can be simulated using various spatial data and information available through the CommonSensing solution that UNOSAT provides.  

15 June 2021, Georgetown, Guyana - The current floods situation in Guyana are representative of a recurring threat to the country’s development. Prone to heavy rains leading to overflowing of its rivers, Guyana’s agricultural sector is constantly affected disaster-related damages, and the local communities are vulnerable to food insecurity because of the damages to land, assets, and infrastructure.

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) adopted an historic resolution for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), and in particular for its Operational Satellite Applications Programme - UNOSAT.

7 June 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - Starting in February 2018, with an initial one-year scoping period, the project built off in-depth user-needs analyses to fully launch the implementation phase in February 2019. Now that the project has matured, this IPP Case Study seeks to assess early results and outcomes of the consortium’s activities and outputs.

4 June 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - The Nyiragongo volcano, situated north east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) started erupting on 22nd May at night. UNOSAT’s rapid mapping service was activated on 23 May 2021 morning by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Goma, DRC. The activation covered the area around Goma, DRC, and Gisenyi, Rwanda.

27 May 2021, Geneva, Switzerland and Beijing, China - The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the Geneva School of Economics and Management of the University of Geneva and the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set global standards for SDG Education and Open Innovation.

28 April 2021, Georgetown, Guyana - On 25 March 2021, UNITAR-UNOSAT hosted and co-facilitated together with UNDP Guyana and CIMA, an online Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) Awareness Raising Workshop with a focus on flood early warning communication.

12 avril 2021, Brazzaville, République du Congo – Du 25 février au 31 mars 2021, UNITAR-UNOSAT a livré une formation en ligne au bénéfice de la République du Congo. Cette formation, animée par des facilitateurs, avait pour but de transmettre aux participants les concepts et la terminologie de la technologie de l'information géospatiale (TIG) ainsi que des méthodologies géospatiales pour soutenir les opérations de réponse d'urgence et le processus de décision lors de catastrophes humanitaires.