The Copernicus LAC Panama Centre took part in the cross-regional dialogue “From Space to Grassroots: Strengthening Community Resilience to Natural Hazards through Space Technologies”, held today at the European Commission’s Berlaymont building in Brussels.
The event brought together representatives of the European Union, regional organisations from Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, United Nations agencies, national risk management bodies, research centres, civil society and the private sector. It was organised by DG ECHO and DG DEFIS, in association with DG INTPA and the Joint Research Centre (JRC), and took place back-to-back with the third High-Level Dialogue of the EU-LAC Memorandum of Understanding on Disaster Risk Management (DRM).
A conversation on technology and community preparedness
The meeting sought to link the capabilities of space-based systems, in particular the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS), with community preparedness, setting out the following objectives:
- To show how tools such as Copernicus strengthen disaster risk management, through geospatial products such as flood extent maps, damage assessments and population exposure data.
- To explore the connection between the technological aspects of early warning systems and the resilience of the population, with an emphasis on humanitarian preparedness and community empowerment.
The programme included panels on EU space assets, digital twins for DRM, regional case studies from Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, Africa and Europe, and the translation of data into actionable alerts. It also addressed DRM financing and international and public-private partnerships in the space sector.
Contributions included those of the Vice-President of Guatemala, Karin Herrera, on her country’s vision from Earth observation; Liz Riley (CDEMA) and David Farrell (CIMH) on the use of Copernicus for hurricane tracking in the Caribbean; and Olga Lozano Cortijo (PREDES, Peru), who offered the perspective of a grassroots organisation. The high-level panel featured Commissioners Hadja Lahbib and Andrius Kubilius, the head of UNDRR, Kamal Kishore, and Ireland’s Minister of State, Thomas Byrne.
Towards closer cooperation with communities
Beyond satellite data, the dialogue stressed that technology only saves lives when it reaches those who need it most, in a useful format and on time. In this spirit, the Copernicus LAC Panama Centre will continue to support institutions in the region in the use of Copernicus data and services for disaster prevention, preparedness and response.
Background information
The activities of the CopernicusLAC Panama Regional Centre are part of the EU-LAC Digital Alliance, which is a strategic framework to promote cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region on digital and space issues under the umbrella of the EU Global Gateway strategy. In this context, the European Space Agency coordinates the implementation of the Centre 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 the Government of Panama, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MIRE), the Government Innovation Agency (AIG), and the SENACYT (National Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation).