The UNITAR Series on the Management and Conservation of World Heritage Sites 2011 Session was held recently in Hiroshima, Japan, and was attended by representatives of 19 countries.

After years of successful collaboration, UNITAR/UNOSAT (the operational satellite applications programme of UNITAR) and Google have strengthened their collaboration by signing an agreement that will give the crisis response and humanitarian community increased access to Google Map Maker source data for use in their disaster response and humanitarian activities, in more than 150 countries around the world.*

15 June 2011, Geneva, Switzerland – UNOSAT trainers celebrated the first successful master level training delivered by the team in Geneva. The UNOSAT premises housed at CERN include a training facility that for first time hosted a 3-week intensive training to students of the Master Course on Disaster Management of the Universities of Copenhagen and Lund. The UNOSAT course is worth 6 ECTS credits.

May 2011, Geneva, Switzerland - The authorities of some of the Colombian departments affected by recent floods reported that this year’s flooding is worse than last year’s, with a death toll likely to rise above 500 while as many are still unaccounted for. Last year more than 2 million Colombians were affected by the floods according to figures released by OCHA.

UNOSAT has long embraced public engagement to improve satellite applications and mapping technology. Already in 2006, UNOSAT, CERN and the University of Geneva joined hands to explore the potential of participatory mapping using CERN’s experiences on collaborative computing and collaborative thinking in particle physics. In July 2006 the first crowdsourcing experiment goes public with the name of Africa@Home.

28 April 2011, Washington DC - Following the historic referendum in South Sudan, Google and the World Bank organized an event to harness the power of mapping to support the soon-to-be world’s newest independent nation. South Sudan is a very vast area that is still poorly mapped. The lack of basic geospatial information makes it difficult for authorities, civil society and development partners to evaluate needs and plan development actions.

UNOSAT and ADPC moved swiftly to implement their recently signed strategic partnership agreement. In April UNOSAT delivered a successful intensive course for trainers (ToT) hosted at the campus of the Asian Institute of Technology, in Bangkok.

More than 15 analytical maps and reports have been produced by the UNOSAT team of satellite analysts in support to various UN humanitarian agencies and the UN Humanitarian Air Service since March. As the situation deteriorated due to the intensifying military activities in and around various cities on the coast, larger numbers of civilians found themselves trapped in conflict areas sometimes subject to heavy shelling, with slim chances to be reached by humanitarian relief or evacuated to safer areas.

ADPC and UNOSAT create partnership to increase capacity development in Asia and the Pacific.

UNITAR Executive Director Carlos Lopes (shown in the photo on the left, front left) and the High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres (front right) signed a comprehensive agreement concerning the support to be provided by UNITAR