Draft minutes of the meeting
Implementation of the Recommendations of the Third United Nations Conference on
the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III)
1.
The eighth meeting of
the action team #1, to Develop a Comprehensive Worldwide Environmental
Monitoring Strategy was held in Vienna, Austria, on Friday, 10 June 2005. The
participants adopted the agenda of the meeting as in Annex I.
2.
The representatives of
the Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Syria, UK, Nigeria and UN-OOSA
attended the meeting. The Chairman of the Action Team 11 on Sustainable
Development, Dr. Adigun Ade Abiodun, and the representatives of the Action Team
11 attended the meeting, as invited by their Chairman.
3.
Mr. Parviz Tarikhi of
the Iranian Space Agency, Chairman of the meeting, opened the meeting by
welcoming the participants.
4.
The participants of the
meeting adopted the draft minutes of the seventh meeting of the Action Team
that was held on 23 February 2005 on the margins of the 42nd session
of the Scientific
and Technical Subcommittee (STSC) of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of
Outer Space (COPUOS) (Annex II).
5.
The
Chairman of the meeting briefed the participants on the activities carried out
since the seventh meeting of the Action Team that was held on 23 February 2005.
He also reported on the side meeting held with the Director of OOSA and the
Chairman of COPUOS on the margins of the sessions of the STSC and Legal
Subcommittee and the proposal to draft a Plan of Action on the future work of
the Action Team and its ways and means to implement its projects, including
cooperation with the Action Team 11 on Sustainable Development on common
topics.
6.
The
Plan of Action, as drafted and proposed by the Chair(s), together with some
other documents relevant to the meeting, such as the Draft Minutes of the last
meeting of the Action Team 11 and a “working paper” on “Sustainable Development
and Environmental Issues” (prepared by OOSA) were made available to the
participants.
7.
The floor was opened for
discussion on the Plan of Action. The
Chairman of the Action Team 11
pointed out the need for a specific strategy to be carried out and a policy to
follow with regard to environment and its identified components to be monitored
and covered. The need for a network among the already existing bodies and
entities, such as UNEP, UNESCO, WMO and FAO, and the use of available information
should be also taken into consideration by the Team and used for the specific
Countries’ needs.
8.
The Chairman of the
Action Team 11 also proposed to develop a questionnaire on the basis of the
Action Plan of the Action Team 1 to be distributed among member States of the
Team and regional institutions dealing with environmental issues, such as the Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Economic Commission for Latin
America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), for
their inputs on monitoring strategies and policies. This information would benefit the work of the Team l.
9.
The UK representative referred to the establishment of GEO and GEOSS, and
the possibility of linkage of the AT#1 to the already existing activities
carried out at global level, and to the two pilot projects contained into the
proposed Plan of Action: (i) remote sensing applications for monitoring of
desertification; and (ii) establishment of an institute on the use of
integrated comprehensive data in environmental monitoring.
10.
With
reference to the project (ii), a possible approach could be to create an
institute to be focused and developed at the regional level first and
eventually at the global. A further
development of this project by the members of the Team and a feasibility study
on the establishment of the Institution are necessary.
11.
The Nigerian
representatives took the floor on the two pilot projects and proposed to
the Members of the Team to organize two different groups to carry out the two
pilot projects and to identify the respective Point of Contacts (PoC) to lead
the projects.
12.
In this regard, Mr.
OLOGUN J.A.A. of the Nigerian delegation proposed himself as PoC for the
project (i) remote
sensing applications for monitoring of desertification, while Mr. Jan Downey of
UK expressed his interest in participating, in principle, in project (ii)
establishment of an institute on the use of integrated comprehensive data in
environmental monitoring. Mr Downey indicated that he would need to further
consult the UK Government and the relevant institutions.
13.
The
representative of Syria also expressed his interest in the pilot project on
desertification (i) and proposed that interested members should contact Mr.
Tarikhi in order to constitute the two groups for the two projects.
14.
In
this regard and with reference to the implementation of these two proposed
pilot projects, the need for a greater
participation and cooperation in the work of the Action Team among its members
was highlighted by the Chairman of the Action Team 1 (as also mentioned during the
previous meeting in February).
15.
The
Team agreed to circulate the outcome of the eight meeting of the Team among the
members by email in order to identify people to be involved in the
implementation of two pilot projects and available to work on them over the
year.
16.
The Team agreed to hold
its ninth meeting on the margins of the next STSC session to be held from 20
February to 3 March 2006. The exact date of the meeting will be announced to
the members after finalizing with OOSA.
Annex I: Agenda of the meeting
“Develop
a Comprehensive Worldwide Environmental Monitoring Strategy”
Conference
Room VII, Vienna International Center
09:00-12:00
hrs.
09:00 Opening and welcome note by one of the co-chairs
09:05 Presentation of participants and election of
the meeting chairman
09:15 Approval of the Agenda
09:20 Adoption of the
minutes of the Action Team’s 7th meeting, hold on 23rd
February 2005
09:25 Briefing the members on the activities
carried out by the team since the 7th meeting of the Action Team on
23rd February 2005 by the Iranian co-chair of the Action Team
09:35 Discussion on the Plan of Action which
draft is prepared by the co-chairs of the Action Team, and the way ahead of the
team
10:35 Break
10:45 Continuation of the discussion on the Plan
of Action which draft is prepared by the co-chairs of the Action Team, and the
way ahead of the team
11:30 Conclusions
11:50 next meeting: venue and date
12:00
Adjourn
Annex II: Draft minutes of the 7th meeting of the action team
Implementation of the Recommendations of the Third United Nations Conference on
the Exploration and
Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III)
1.
The seventh meeting of
the action team #1, Develop a Comprehensive Worldwide Environmental Monitoring
Strategy was held in Vienna, Austria on Wednesday, 23 February 2004. The
participants adopted the agenda of the meeting as in Annex I.
2.
The representatives from
the Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Syria, USA, UK, Italy, India and
UN-OOSA attended the meeting.
3.
Mr. Parviz Tarikhi from
the Iranian Space Agency, as the chairman of the meeting opened the meeting by
welcoming the participants and expressing his gratitude for the effort put by
the members and pointed out that the team is going to enter to a new phase in
its activity due to the endorsement of General Assembly of the Plan of Action
proposed by COPUOS in which the continuation of the work of the Action Team is
considered necessary.
4.
The participants of the
meeting adopted the draft minutes of the sixth meeting of the action team that
was held on 4 June 2004 on the margins of the 47th COPUOS Meeting
(Annex II).
5.
The Chairman shortly
briefed the participants on background documents with a particular emphasis on
the UNGA Res.59/2 and document A/59/174, referring respectively to the work of
the Action Teams, as a useful mechanism for implementing results within the UN
system, and to the Plan of Action contained in the UNISPACE III + 5 Report,
both to be considered as the basis for the further work of the Action Team #1.
6.
The chairman of the
meeting also briefed the participants about the activities carried out since
the sixth meeting of the Action Team that was held on 4 June 2004 in the
margins of the 47th COPUOS Meeting. He pointed out that the activity
of the action team number 1 and the necessity of its continuation is endorsed
by General Assembly in the 37th plenary meeting of its Fifty-ninth
session held on 20 October 2004, as contained in the document A/RES/59/2 dated
3rd December 2004. He added that according the Plan of Action of
COPUOS, the work of the action team number 1 provides a solid basis for making
further progress in the follow-up to the United Nations Millennium Summit and
the World Summit on Sustainable Development. He added also that it is an
important stage for the team and it is expected that the members of the action
team put more attention and contribute more in the activates of the team so
that the team could achieve its goals as defined for it. He mentioned that this
will be possible if we put forces together to increase the synergy as much as
possible under the support and guidance of OOSA.
7.
The floor was then
opened for discussion and, among the issues arisen, the need of a greater
participation and cooperation in the work of the Action Team among its members,
and the necessity of reorganizing the work of the Action Team was highlighted
by the delegates of Iran and Syria.
8.
The UK representative (BNSC/CEOS) referred to the establishment of GEO, and
GEOSS 10-year implementation plan, and to possible linkage of the AT#1 to the
GEO Secretariat, also in the light of the role that UK plays in CEOS and its
involvement in GEO.
9.
The USA
representative supported the UK
position also considering OOSA’s participation in GEO.
10. The need of a networking between the AT and GEO was
highlighted by the Syrian co-chairman in order not to duplicate actions
on common issues.
11. The issue of the proposed pilot project for “the
establishment of an institute on the issue of integrated comprehensive data in
environmental monitoring” (A/AC.105/C.1/L.275 pag.30) and its duration (one
year), was considered not to be realistic by the representative of India and
subject to a further revision.
12. The need of creating a network, internal and external
to the AT for the exchange of knowledge and expertise, and increasing the
participation in the Action Team were considered as key-points of the
discussion. Proposals were made by the Chairs to inquire the reasons of
this lack of participation by members of the Team (funds, unconsciousness,
short-notice, etc) and possible solutions to overcome it; to increase the
participation to the AT with regard to the number and quality of participants,
and the number of meetings of the Team. The proposal to “categorize”
participants in “permanent and advisers” was made and need of continuity in the
participation by same members was also highlighted for the benefit and the
progress of the work of the AT.
13. In this regard, the Secretariat was asked to report to
the members of the Team and make them aware of the latest documents relevant to
the Team (Res. 59/2 and A/59/174) and the highlighted requirement of their
participation.
14. The floor was then opened to discussion on undertaken projects
related to environmental monitoring at national, regional and global level. The
pilot projects on the monitoring of desertification and floods were considered
as priorities at the regional and global level.
15. Concluding remarks were made by the Chairman that can
be summarized as following:
·
Review of the
organizational structure of the work of the Action Team
·
Network and joint
cooperation with other Organizations already involved in Environment to benefit
their experience and enhance the work of the Action Team
·
OOSA could support in
reporting/contacting the members of the Team and removing obstacles to
participation. In this regard, the OOSA representative took the floor in order
not to commit the Office with any specific promise and/or commitment but
offering at the same time potential support, if any.
16. The Team
agreed to hold its eighth meeting on the margins of the next COPUOS session to
be held from 8 to 17 June 2005. The exact date of the meeting will be announced
to the members after finalizing with OOSA.
Annex III: Provisional Plan of Action
Implementation of the
recommendations of the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and
Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
(UNISPACE III)
“Develop a Comprehensive Worldwide Environmental Monitoring Strategy”
Outline of the Plan of Action [provisional draft]
Aims:
(i)
to launch a worldwide
strategy for environmental monitoring, ensuring the sustainable use of
ecosystems and promoting regional cooperation on critical environmental issues.
(ii)
to concentrate resources and
efforts on achieving greater technical and scientific cooperation, enhancing
knowledge and exchange of experience among countries and organizations,
developing policies leading to sustainable environmental development and building
upon the current development and national environmental action plans and rural
development strategies;
Technical components of the Strategy:
(i)
networking and
knowledge-sharing;
(ii)
capacity- building of
national and regional organizations;
(iii)
regional systems for
collection and distribution of information; and
(iv)
space technology
applications for environmental monitoring.
(Each of these components
will consist of a set of outputs, which will be delivered through specific
activities)
The most effective solution:
to develop an institutional mechanism, consisting of interdisciplinary
activities with scientific, technical, economic, political and legal aspects
and that is constantly active on a global scale in the interests of
environmental protection and for the benefit of all countries.
This mechanism should gradually evolve towards the creation of a united
environmental monitoring system, with the following key features:
(i)
globally acceptable,
integrated and comprehensive;
(ii)
supported by data collection
systems at the national, regional and global levels and coordinated
well-structured with socio- economic information systems;
(iii)
containing effective tools
for data analysis and processing to produce information and generate knowledge
accessible to officials and the general public;
(iv)
well known to policy and
decision makers for its presentation of data and information in an easily
understandable format;
First steps:
1.
a resolution of the General
Assembly that defines the status of the monitoring system. At the early stages
of establishing the monitoring system, a strategy for integrated, comprehensive
environmental monitoring could be implemented through pilot projects, which
would allow local communities to take practical steps and to test and practice
the main technological approaches and basic ideas.
2.
to expand and develop its
activities and coverage of work by accepting new members;
The Action Team has initiated two pilot projects previously that is in
line with what is recognized necessary as the most effective solution:
(i)
remote sensing applications
for monitoring of desertification and
(ii)
the other for the
establishment of an institute on the use of integrated comprehensive data in
environmental monitoring, with a series of workshops and training activities as
well as regional canters for environmental monitoring.
Schedule of the work for Year 2005 and beyond*:
|
Phases of progression |
Date
|
|
Establishing two separate groups from the team members for
feasibility study on both the pilot projects (i) and (ii) |
10 June 2005 |
|
Conducting the feasibility study for both the projects by two groups |
20 June to 30 September 2005 |
|
Preparing a draft proposal for both the pilot projects by the
assigned groups |
1-30 October 2005 |
|
Circulating the draft proposals to the members and receiving the
feedbacks |
1 November to 30 December 2005 |
|
Finalizing the proposals and submission of the proposal to OOSA |
the 9th meeting of Action Team in the margins of 43rd
STS-COPUOS meeting in February 2006 |
|
Deciding on the way of the continuation of the work |
the 9th meeting of Action Team in the margins of 43rd
STS-COPUOS meeting in February 2006 |
* The
schedule of the work needs to be negotiated and finalized by the team members.