From June 4 to 10, 2023, Ms. Tan Yumin, Expert of the Centre in RS&GIS and Professor of the School of Transportation Science and Engineering at Beihang University, attended the 66th Session of Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) held in Vienna as a member of the Chinese delegation. This session was attended by representatives of nearly ninety (90) countries and more than thirty (30) international organizations.
As climate change mitigation and adaptation was one of the key themes of the session, space-based technologies and space-based observations were of increasing value for the scientific study of climate change and its impacts. In their reports of the session, several delegations emphasized the importance of space science and technology and their applications to effectively address current and future challenges to socio-economic development and sustainability, such as natural disasters, food security, climate change and natural resource security, etc. The priority areas proposed by Programme on Space Applications (PSA) were environmental monitoring, natural resources management, satellite communications, disaster risk reduction, the use of global navigation satellite systems, the Basic Space Science Initiative, climate change, the Basic Space Technology Initiative, the Human Space Technology Initiative, and biodiversity and ecosystems.
In their reports, many delegations suggested that, in order to strengthen disaster preparedness and emergency response at the national level, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) should increase the capacity-building activities of United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER), in particular to provide more technical advisory services and training programmes for developing countries. The contribution of the Centre at Beihang University in promoting space technology applications was widely recognized. At the session, representatives from several Member States of COPUOS thanked the Centre in their reports for its contributions to the training of talents specialized in space technology applications in their countries; UN-SPIDER hoped to work closely with the Centre in promoting access to and use of space-based solutions for disaster management, especially in natural disasters related to climate change, to accelerate the advancement of the global alliance of regional centers, to strengthen the building of capacity and standards for education and training in space technology applications, and to give further play to the pivot role of the Centre.
Ms. Tan Yumin introduced the work progress of the Centre in recent years to the delegates at the session, brought along the profile of the Centre and other publicity materials, communicated with the head of the Regional Centres in UNOOSA and many representatives in the field of space technology from multinational delegations. At the same time, she also had an in-depth exchange with the representatives of the Member States of the Centre, three alumni of Beihang University who attended the COPUOS session as delegates of their home countries or international organizations, as well as other representatives of the Chinese delegation.
