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24 July 2025, Paris, France - On 12 July 2025, the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) took part in the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. In collaboration with the International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST), UNOSAT co-hosted a thematic session titled: Digital Technologies for Sustainable Development of World Heritage Sites. This collaboration was part of a broader effort to promote the use of digital tools and geospatial technologies in support of UNESCO’s mission to safeguard World He...
14 October 2020, Geneva, Switzerland – The United Nation’s Operational Programme for Satellite Analysis and Applied Research (UNOSAT) remotely joined the training on Information Management led by UNITAR Division for Peace. This training was delivered for the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in September 2020 in Chad.
Led by the Lake Chad Basin Commission in 2015, the MNJTF is a joint military task force composed of troops from Benin, Cameroun, Chad, Niger and Nigeria. Their mandate includes the creation of a safe and secure environment for the areas affected by extre...
UNOSAT is the operational satellite applications programme of UNITAR, promoting evidence-based decision making for peace, security and resilience by using geospatial information technologies (GIT). One of UNOSAT’s main strategic objectives is to build and develop capacities of Member States to use earth observation (EO) and GIT. As a part of its capacity development activities, UNOSAT delivered a one-week training entitled “ASEAN Regional Training Course on Geospatial Big Data Applications for Sustainable Development” f...
The devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti resulted in an outpouring of relief and an unprecedented variety of crowdsourcing efforts. UNOSAT was heavily involved in damage assessment and analysis activities, ingesting data from the crowd but also synthesizing lessons learned from previous emergencies. The work was conducted in integrated and participatory involving the European Commission Joint Research Centre and the World Bank-GFDRR, the Haitian National Centre for Geo-Spatial Information, Swisstopo and the University of Zurich. This widespread effort combined im...
When Mr.Jully Odhiambo Ouma was recommended by his director to attend the UNITAR training on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), he was a Master Degree student in Meteorology at the University of Nairobi, Kenya and a research assistant at Climate Prediction & Applications Centre (ICPAC) within the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). At that time, he was making meteorological prediction maps about the probability amounts of rain, using a basic graphic software. The probabilities were presented in a way that was often difficult for local farmers and…
28 February 2024, Geneva, Switzerland - An innovative training course on using satellite imagery as evidence in international judicial proceedings has been launched by UNITAR-UNOSAT, the Asser Institute, the Geneva Science-Policy Interface (GSPI), and IUSTICOM. Legal professionals working with international justice organizations are the first beneficiaries of the course concerning technical and legal requirements of using satellite images as evidence in court.
Satellite images are often the only way to prove that human rights abuses and...
11 – 12 December 2019, Bangkok, Thailand.
UNOSAT in collaboration with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, UNESCAP, have conducted a training with the aim to strengthen a gender-responsive approach to Disaster Risk Reduction.
The socially and culturally constructed differences such as roles and responsibilities between men and women tend to determine how they experience a disaster as well as their ability to prepare and recover from it. This is distinct for women living in countries that tolerate gender discrimination, ma...
Branson Pitakia, Information Technology Officer at the Solomon Islands National Disaster Management Office, illustrates the potential of knowledge and innovation in disaster management. His story shows how geospatial technology can help in disaster preparedness and response, and ultimately protect communities.
Branson Pitakia's quest for knowledge led him to enrol in UNOSAT's Geographic Information Systems (GIS) training courses, which are part of the project “Strengthening Capacities in the Use of Geospatial Information for Improved Resilience in Asia-Pacific and Africa (...
UNOSAT is UNITAR's Unit focused on applying remote sensing, satellite imagery analysis, and broader geospatial technologies to challenges across the UN system and in support to Governments. Founded more than 18 years ago UNOSAT has grown to encompass activities on disaster response, supporting human rights, humanitarian relief, climate resilience, water management and other issues integral to the SDGs and the pillars of the UN. UNOSAT focuses its efforts on collaborations with thematically mandated UN partners which allows robust and significant production of analyses and d...
10 June 2022, Geneva, Switzerland - On Saturday 15th January 2022, the ongoing volcanic eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai triggered a tsunami across the Pacific. The scale of the explosion was so large, undersea communications lines were damaged, leaving the population of the Kingdom of Tonga out of reach. The dense ash clouds, added to the poor meteorological conditions, limited the flying capabilities and visual confirmation of the situation on the ground. Satellite imagery, therefore, became a key source of information to assess the extent and severity of the damages...