International Organisations in Vienna: What is the United Nations Platform for Space-Based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response?

Among the multitude of international organisations are big names like the United Nations (UN), the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) or the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Few people in Vienna are aware of how many smaller, but no less important organisations the Austrian capital is home to. Vienna, for example, is home to the United Nations Platform for Space-Based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER), which has set itself the task of communicating the use of space-based technologies for disaster management and emergency response.

This includes, among other things, developing solutions to developing countries' limited access to specific technologies that can be essential for disaster management and disaster risk reduction.

UN-SPIDER seeks to contribute to more effective disaster risk management and thus to more effective emergency response through remote sensing for Earth observation, satellite-based telecommunications and global navigation satellite systems.

UN-SPIDER's mandate is to enable developing countries to use all types of space-based information in all phases of disaster management, including prevention, preparedness, early warning, response and recovery.

In doing so, the organisation aims to improve disaster risk reduction measures or disaster response support through knowledge sharing and institutional strengthening in the use of space technologies.

Through UN-SPIDER's assistance, cooperation is facilitated between the providers of satellite data and information and the various groups of users of this data. This group includes policy makers, disaster managers or emergency responders. The aim is to improve the flow of information on disaster risks and impacts between all stakeholders and affected populations.

UN SPIDER