2024 has been a year of growth, collaboration, and significant achievements for the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre. From expanding our reach and impact in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region to advancing key projects, we have made great strides in fulfilling our mission of boosting the uptake of Copernicus Earth Observation data among users in LAC countries.
Set up in the framework of the EU-LAC Digital Alliance as a programme of the European Union’s (EU) Global Gateway strategy, the Centre has successfully engaged with diverse stakeholders, hosted capacity building initiatives, including trainings and a hackathon, and worked to increase the accessibility of Copernicus data in the region.
In this article, we reflect on the key milestones, achievements, and successes which have defined our journey so far, setting the stage for an even more impactful year ahead for the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre.
Stronger Cooperation on Disaster Preparedness and Disaster Risk Management: the Signature of a Landmark Memorandum of Understanding
On 15 May 2024, a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Disaster Preparedness and Risk Management was signed in Barbados during a ceremony co-hosted by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and the EU. The MoU sets out to strengthen cooperation on integrated disaster risk management between the EU and key LAC organisations, with the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre specifically identified as a provider of services for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in the region. Claudia Herrera Melgar, the Centre’s Stakeholder Liaison Officer, presented its activities during a technical workshop held as part of the event.
MoU signature in Barbados on 15 May 2024 during a ceremony co-hosted by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and the EU, represented by the then Commissioner for Crisis Management, Mr. Janez Lenarčič.
A Hub for Learning and Engagement: the Launch of the CopernicusLAC Digital Campus
On 22 May 2024, the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre officially launched its website and Digital Campus at an event in Panama City, with key presentations highlighting its features and the strategic importance of the CopernicusLAC initiative for the region. The Digital Campus provides free access to training materials, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and tools for capacity building to boost the use of Copernicus Earth Observation (EO) data. More information is available here.
Itziar Alonso, responsible for the implementation of the centre at the European Space Agency (ESA), presents the main features of the CopernicusLAC Digital Campus in the presence of the Head of the EU Delegation to Panama and representatives of the European Commission’s Directorate General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA), the Panamanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MIRE), the National Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation (SENACYT) and the Government Innovation Authority of Panama (AIG).
Developing Regional Knowledge and Skills in Earth Observation: the CopernicusLAC Trainings and MOOCs
The CopernicusLAC Panama Centre successfully hosted three trainings in 2024:
- An in-person training in Panama City, Panama, in July, covering ‘Remote Sensing: Principles and Tools’
- An online training in September, covering an ‘Introduction to Earth Observation in optical and SAR’ and ‘Digital Tools for Earth Observation’
- An in-person training in Guatemala City, Guatemala, in November, on ‘Remote Sensing for Disaster Risk Reduction and Forest Fires’
Over 200 professionals from more than 23 countries took part in the various training sessions, learning about the applications of Copernicus data to their own work through theoretical lessons and practical exercises.
From top to bottom: first CopernicusLAC onsite training held at SENACYT premises in Panama City (July 2024); second onsite training held at CONRED premises in Guatemala City (November 2024); first online training organised in September 2024.
The materials and recordings from all training sessions are available as free and open MOOCs on the Centre’s Digital Campus, allowing users to access these resources and benefit from them at their own pace.
Stay up to date on upcoming CopernicusLAC trainings and other events here.
Supporting EU-LAC Partnerships: the 1st CopernicusLAC Matchmaking
On 19 September, the first CopernicusLAC Matchmaking event was held as a side event during the 2024 ESA Industry Space Days at ESA’s ESTEC premises in the Netherlands, which gathered over 2,000 experts from the space sector. Supported by the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre, a delegation of 8 LAC entities participated, engaging with European companies to foster collaboration and EO innovations and business opportunities to address regional challenges. The event received positive feedback from attendees on its ability to serve as a platform for fostering EU-LAC commercial partnerships.
Matchmaking event held on 19 September in the context of the ESA Industry Space Days 2024, in Noordwijk, Netherlands.
Fostering Innovation in the LAC region: the 1st CopernicusLAC Hackathon
The first-ever CopernicusLAC Panama Centre Hackathon, co-organised with the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA), took place between 11 and 30 October and brought together 448 participants from 33 countries to tackle three key challenges related to food security and production, biodiversity conservation, and forecasting and preparing for future disasters in the LAC region. Leveraging Copernicus data, participants worked in more than 50 teams, receiving mentoring throughout the event from experts in disaster risk reduction and space data. The winning teams were awarded a total of $8,000 in prizes, with the team in first place receiving $5,000 for their project on urban growth monitoring, the team in second place securing $2,000 for their project on urban wetlands, and the “bronze medallists” winning $1,000 for their project on deforestation, water consumption, and agrochemicals.
CopernicusLAC 2024 Hackathon visual identity.
12 Earth Observation-based Pilot Services are Under Development
The CopernicusLAC Panama Centre’s activities include the development of 12 pilot services under three thematic areas: hydromet, geological hazards, and exposure. The services are developed based on stakeholder consultations and assessed for validity through use cases. They will be handed over to local stakeholders for continued implementation at the end of the pilot demonstration phase, boosting the resilience of the region to climate change-induced extreme weather events and hazards.
In 2024, significant progress was made on several pilot services, including the first development cycle of the landslide susceptibility service, which was successfully demonstrated over the Chavin de Huantar area in Peru. The service on wildfires was also developed and successfully demonstrated throughout the LAC region, with, in particular, a map of burn scars from wildfires in Chile in 2023.
Top: Custom landslide susceptibility map of Chavin de Huantar, Peru. Bottom: 3D visualisation of the areas burned by forest fires in Chile in February 2023.
The pilot services will be available to all relevant users on the upcoming CopernicusLAC Panama IT platform, which is currently under development. Separately, progress has also been made on the Centre’s development of a high power and cloud computing infrastructure, which will increase accessibility of Copernicus data to users in the LAC region.
Building Stronger Partnerships: Stakeholder Engagement and Liaison Activities
Finally, throughout the year, the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre Liaison Officers set the stage for fruitful collaboration with partners throughout the region.
Our Liaison Officers participated in several events and meetings to increase the visibility of the Centre and engage key stakeholders. Highlights include their participation in the International Forum on “Regional Integration and Solidarity – Challenges of the Brasilia Consensus” in Montevideo, Uruguay, last July, where they discussed potential opportunities for cooperation among regional institutions; the Panama Book Fair, where they presented the Centre and the benefits of the Copernicus satellites in an interactive booth; or the AmeriGEO Week, held in Quito, Ecuador, in August.
One of the most important milestones for the Centre this year was the organisation of a side event at the United Nations COP16 on Biodiversity, held in Cali, Colombia, at the end of October. There, the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre Liaison Officer moderated a panel discussion with experts from different countries on the applications of Earth Observation (EO) tools for biodiversity conservation.
In addition, the Centre has supported the creation of national Copernicus Committees across the LAC region during 2024, the most recent being the launch of the Copernicus Committee Colombia in Bogotá, in November. These committees will help increase the impact of the Centre’s activities on disaster resilience in Latin America and the Caribbean.
From top to bottom: 10th Technical Update Conference organised by the National Geographic Institute ‘Tommy Guardia’; 2024 Panama Book Fair; 2024 AmeriGEO Week; UN COP16.
Looking Ahead to 2025
With these achievements as its cornerstone, the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre looks forward to continuing its mission of bringing Copernicus data closer to users in the LAC region. Exciting developments await us in the coming year, including new training sessions, stakeholder engagement via community-building events, and the further development and validation of our pilot services.
To stay up to date on all the latest news and updates from our Centre, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and X.
Background Information
The Copernicus LAC Panama Centre’s activities take place within the overall context of the EU-LAC Digital Alliance, which is a strategic framework for promoting cooperation between the EU and the LAC region on digital and space issues under the EU Global Gateway umbrella. Within this context, the European Space Agency (ESA) is coordinating the Centre’s implementation on the basis of a Contribution Agreement with the Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) of the European Commission, and in close collaboration with Panama’s government, MIRE (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Government Innovation Authority (AIG), and SENACYT (National Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation).
The CopernicusLAC Panama Centre will serve as a hub for innovation in the Latin America and Caribbean region, supporting national and local entities in leveraging Copernicus data and information to boost socio-economic benefits and resilience. In addition to providing engagement opportunities, the Centre is developing geospatial Pilot Services (addressing hydrometeorological hazards, geological hazards, and hazard exposure) in close collaboration with local users and stakeholders, to whom they will be handed over to ensure that the unique needs of the region are addressed in the long term.
In addition, knowledge and skills transfer is a key element of the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre, which hosts a Digital Campus with access to training modules and educational resources for technical users and citizens alike. The Centre will also organise community-building events, policy dialogues and industry matchmaking, as well as hackathons and other EO data challenges to stimulate user adoption of Copernicus data and innovation. These events will also foster cross-collaboration among EO, DRR and other relevant ecosystems.
Finally, the Centre will support the development of a high-power computing and data storage in the cloud infrastructure for the LAC region. One of the final objectives of the Centre is to promote the development of communities of practice and to strengthen the knowledge and use of tools for DRR and other application areas in the public sector, academia, the private sector, and social organisations.