On 8 July, the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre kicked-off the first in a series of trainings which aim to increase the knowledge in the LAC region on the use of Copernicus data and its different applications. This series of trainings are part the Centre’s knowledge and capacity building activities and will last until the end of 2027. This first training was titled “Remote Sensing: Principles & Tools” and it held on-site in Panama City at the premises of the Panama’s National Secretary of Science and Technology (SENACYT).

Dr. Eduardo Ortega-Barrios, Secretary General of SENACYT, and Ambassador Izabela Matusz, Head of the EU Delegation to Panama, inaugurated the course, emphasising the significant role that the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre will play in supporting the application of Copernicus Earth Observation (EO) data for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) across the Latin American and Caribbean region.

Dr. Ortega-Barrios said: “We are pleased to join the Delegation of the European Union and the European Space Agency in the development of this workshop, the first international in-person activity of the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre.  Actions such as these, with the strong support of the European Union, are the first step to creating national and regional capacities in space technology tools and/or applications that facilitate the realisation of innovative solutions which take advantage of these resources and benefit different productive sectors such as agriculture, logistics, security, urban planning, among others. Panama is committed to being a key partner in the implementation of the valuable activities of the Centre, understanding that these are a vehicle to stimulate the collaborative generation of ideas and enhance the use and added value of Copernicus data”.

Ambassador Izabela Matusz said: “The realisation of this workshop by the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre marks an important step for the EU-LAC Digital Alliance in its mission to foster bi-regional cooperation on the topics of environmental protection, climate change and enhanced resilience. By supporting LAC countries in the use of Copernicus open satellite data, the European Union is helping local communities address environmental, humanitarian and economic challenges amidst a changing global climate through Global Gateway”.

This first training, hosted at SENACYT’s premises, located in Panama City, Panama, involved the participation of representatives from nine Latin American countries and from diverse institutions such as civil protection organisations, national institutes of meteorology, hydrology and topography, environment ministries, and space agencies.

The “Remote Sensing: Principles & Tools”  training aims to equip participants with fundamental concepts related to EO by presenting Copernicus Sentinel satellite data and image processing tools. This session consisted of two modules:

• Introduction to EO, which covered the fundamental aspects shared by most EO satellite missions, with a focus on data provided by Copernicus
• Digital Tools for EO, which introduces a collection of widely used open-source tools that ease the transition from raw EO data handling to the visualisation of the final product

These trainings illustrate that accessing and using EO data can be simple and beneficial for everyone, especially in the field of DRR. The participants to the event were able to apply such data to their specific domain, providing a powerful practical tool for daily decision-making.

Over the next four years, the Centre will host in-person and online training sessions which will cover key topics such as flood detection, ground movement monitoring, wildfire detection and monitoring, disaster management, and climate change. Information on the courses which will be provided, as well as the online platform with tools and training materials are available on the Digital Campus of the CopernicusLAC Panama website.

These trainings and the activities of the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre represent a major step forward in strengthening regional capabilities in leveraging EO data for DRR and increased resilience to climate change-induced weather events.

 

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).