30 June 2015, Bonn, Germany – UNESCO and UNITAR (the UN Institute for Training and Research) have signed an agreement to protect cultural and natural heritage sites with the latest geo-spatial technologies.  It was signed at the annual meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Bonn, Germany, and will be delivered through UNITAR’s Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT).

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon announced today the appointment of Nikhil Seth of India as Executive Director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). He will succeed Sally Fegan-Wyles of Ireland, to whom the Secretary-General expressed his utmost gratitude for her dedication and commitment to the United Nations.

This satellite derived geospatial analysis documents damages over the Gaza Strip following the July-August 2014 conflict. It is based on analysis of commercial satellite imagery and quantifies damage to overall building structures, health facilities, education facilities, agricultural fields and greenhouses. The study also compares damage from the 2014 conflict to that of the 2009 conflict.

March 2013, Geneva, Switzerland - The Executive Director of UNITAR has appointed Dr. Einar Bjorgo of Norway as UNOSAT Manager after a selection process involving internal and external candidates. Bjorgo, who was serving as Senior Officer at UNITAR had been in charge of UNOSAT operations under the previous management.

24 January 2013, Geneva, Switzerland - Mozambique is being affected by flooding that may match in intensity the catastrophic emergency in 2000 that cost the life of 800 people and brought havoc and loss to the country.

29 May 2012, Geneva, Switzerland - The 12th edition of the celebrated Summer Course on International Humanitarian Law will take place on 25 June-6 July 2012, in both Sanremo (Italy) and Geneva, announced the International Institute for Humanitarian Law (IIHL). As in previous years, the course will feature a UNOSAT module on the use of geospatial information and satellite analysis in the application of humanitarian law during conflict and crises.

Within its Geneva-based training offer, UNOSAT has completed in February 2012 a professional training for 6 Officers of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). UNOSAT training modules on rapid mapping and satellite analysis are well known both in Geneva and in several countries, but this was the first time that Human Rights Officers were hosted in the UNOSAT training facility based at CERN.

February 2012, Geneva, Switzerland - The new application, called “CyberMappr”, has been developed within the Citizen Cyberscience Centre (CCC), created by UNITAR, CERN and University of Geneva as an incubator of new tools involving citizen-to-citizen cyberscience. CyberMappr uses the internet to connect volunteers to each other and to a group of expert analysts at UNOSAT with one common mission.

This year saw the first successful roll out of the new improved version of the well-known GIS training course offered by the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre that now includes tailored UNOSAT modules on post-disaster impact and damage analysis in emergency response mapping. The course is held once a year in Bangkok around October and lasts two weeks. The UNOSAT module is held on three consecutive days during the course.

18 October 2011, Geneva, Switzerland.  In keeping with its strategic commitment towards community mapping, UNOSAT has joined resources with Google to make online crisis maps available for the current Thailand floods and the ongoing complex emergency and drought in the Horn of Africa.