The current seasonal floods in West Africa are affecting over 350,000 people. With floods reported in Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Benin, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mali, Liberia and Guinea, the UNITAR Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT) supports sister agencies UNICEF and UNOCHA with satellite image derived analyses of the situation. Using satellite imagery from multiple dates, the evolution of flood conditions is monitored and the latest changes on the ground observed.

The 2009 United Nations International Law Fellowship Programme was successfully completed on 14 August 2009.

Three months into its chairmanship of the Global Migration Group (GMG), UNITAR has already made significant progress in implementing the one-year work plan adopted by the GMG in June 2009.

The Government of Namibia expressed his official thanks to UNOSAT for its “positive and proactive support” lent to the country in benefiting from the activation of the International Space Charter during 2009 flood season.