After years of successful research and applications in the area of geospatial information for humanitarian aid and emergency response, UNOSAT has acquired considerable technological and inter-agency knowledge in this complex and often misunderstood activity field.

UNOSAT supports the international humanitarian community since 2003, when it launched a Rapid Mapping Service, available 24/7 to UN and non-UN humanitarian entities responding to natural disasters and complex emergencies. The service provides maps and geospatial analysis on demand in the context of rapid response and it is funded by donor countries anxious to extend t the humanitarians the benefit of satellite technology.

The 2nd Yale/UNITAR Global Conference on Environmental Governance and Democracy will take place at Yale University, New Haven, USA from 17-19 September 2010 in the margins of the United Nations Millennium Development Goal Summit, 20-22 September, New York.

UNOSAT rapid mapping was activated this March over Uganda in the aftermath of deadly landslides provoked by severe flooding in the region of Bududa.

OUAGADOUGOU -- On 31 March 2010, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Municipality of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso inaugurated the new headquarters of the International Training Center for Local Actors (CIFAL Ouagadougou).

On 13 April 2010, the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding between UNITAR and the Nonviolent Peaceforce took place at UNITAR’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. 

Even though the movement of people as a response to changes in the environment is not a new phenomenon, this issue has risen on the international agenda as a result of the growing awareness of the reality of climate change and its possible implications. Climate change is predicted to increase climate variability and lead to greater intensity and frequency of extreme weather events.