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19 January 2016, Geneva, Switzerland - It is with great sadness that we learned that our highly respected and beloved colleague, Mr. Jean Gazarian, UNITAR full-time Senior Fellow, passed away yesterday at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, United States. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family.
Mr. Gazarian joined the United Nations in 1946 as a translator, and during his career worked closely with several Secretaries-Generals. He was Director of the Division of General Assembly Affairs for 18 years and served in many other capacities. Even afte...
While UNOSAT has consistently met high standards in very short delivery timelines, the new Data-in-hand strategy is an attempt to routinely approach actual near-real-time analysis. Francesco Pisano, Manager of UNOSAT, says “this level of responsiveness is not new at UNOSAT. What is new is our strategy to make this a standard feature. We keep looking downstream at user requirements in the field and we equip ourselves with what it takes to do better each time in responding to these”. In commenting on the attempts being done in some quarters of the GIS and space communities to...
The UNITAR Operational Satellite Training Programme (UNOSAT) contributes to human security, peace and socio-economic development by providing integrated satellite-based solutions for governments as well as relief and development organizations within and outside the UN system. As part of its capacity development activities, a two-week training programme took place in Bhutan, with support from the State of Qatar. With funding through the newly-established Strategic Framework Fund, the programme aimed to enhance the use of geospatial technologies for evidence-based decision ma...
Franklin University Switzerland and UNITAR organized a joint event during the Open Geneva Hackathon Festival. The online Hackathon "Food as a nexus for synchronic urban and rural development" offered a platform to generate innovative ideas to rethink and improve food as a linkage for development in rural and urban areas. The hackathon lasted three days and was delivered entirely online, allowing participants worldwide to join the event.
The event included the participation of UN-Habitat, FAO and UNITAR experts to facilitate workshops and group work activities. Four w...
At the heart of Bhutan's evolving landscape, Mr. Chokila emerges as a key figure in driving geospatial developments. In his role as Superintendent Survey Engineer at the National Land Commission Secretariat (NLCS), his collaboration with UNITAR-UNOSAT has been instrumental in this progress. Chokila's quest for professional improvements led him to enrol in UNOSAT's training courses, which are part of the project “Strengthening Capacities in the Use of Geospatial Information for Improved Resilience in Asia-Pacific and Africa (2021-2024)”. He has taken part in v...
Tropical Cyclone Idai made landfall during the night of 14 to 15 March 2019 near Beira, a low-lying city of 500,000 residents in central Mozambique, before moving inland to neighbouring Zimbabwe and Malawi. The cyclone brought winds of up to 177 km/h (106 mph) and torrential rains that caused rivers to burst over their banks and submerge streets and homes across several provinces in Mozambique. Governmental officials described the damage as "massive and horrifying" while IFRC and UN officials described seeing “water and water for miles and miles” and “90 percent of the Beir...
UNITAR offers courses that run throughout the year or several times a year that are free-of-charge and open to the public. For more information about courses offered, please see below. , This self-paced course, jointly delivered by UNITAR and IUCN, promotes a dynamic learning approach through interactive lessons and multimedia contents. Participants will understand the nexus between biodiversity, climate change and land-use plans; discover the rights and roles of different stakeholders in the planning and decision-making process; and consider ways to col...
9 February 2022, Geneva, Switzerland - A category 5 Tropical Cyclone struck the Philippines in December 2021, causing significant damage and affecting a large part of the population. Following a request from the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (in Bangkok), of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UNOSAT’s Emergency Mapping service was activated to support the planning and coordination of emergency response operations with satellite imagery analysis., On the 16th of December 2021, Tropical Cyclone RAI-21 made landfall north ...
The UNOSAT Emergency Mapping Service (UNOSAT-EMS) is a 24/7 service that provides satellite imagery analysis support following rapid on-set disasters, complex emergencies, and crises. The Service is free of charge for the emergency phase of the response. The UNOSAT-EMS was established in 2003 funded in the last three project cycles by Norway through Norad (Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The current phase of the project receives funding from the latter.
The interface of UNOSAT with the UN emergency response syst...
This free-of-charge tutorial has been designed together with GFCS Office with the aim of promoting GFCS, raising awareness about its objectives and illustrating the benefits of climate services for decision making in selected topical areas. This learning tool is meant for national experts as well as other interested stakeholders and the general public, The tutorial is available at this page for an initial period of 6 months, during which all modules may be accessed in any preferred order. The modules feature video interviews with experts from international agencies, as well...