Planet Earth from Space to Place – ESA at UNESCO exhibition

ESA has been invited to participate in the exhibition ‘Planet Earth: from Space to Place’ organised by UNESCO, during its General Conference, starting this week in Paris.

The exhibition is being held at the Paris headquarters of the United Nations Educational Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), during the 34th session of the UNESCO General Conference from 17 October to 3 November.

“The extraordinary cultural and natural diversity of the world is an important source of life and inspiration for humanity”, says Stefano Bruzzi of ESA’s Directorate of Earth Observation programmes, “its preservation should be a responsibility shared by the whole international community. ESA is delighted to be present in this exhibition that aims to underline the benefits for humanity of space science and technology”.

‘Planet Earth from Space to Place’ was inaugurated by the Director General of UNESCO, Mr Koichiro Matsuura during the opening ceremony of the conference on 16 October, in the presence of Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden, and it will be visited by delegations from UNESCO’s 193 member states, including Heads of State, Ministers of Education, Science and Communication, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations and foundations.

ESA and UNESCO have long cooperated to use remote-sensing technology to preserve our heritage, biodiversity and resources. Space technology applications indeed play a key role in monitoring UNESCO’s cultural and natural heritage sites. Today, the two organisations are working on several joint initiatives together with an international network of space agencies, research institutions, universities and the private sector to bring the benefit of space technology to assist developing countries.

This fruitful cooperation between a European organisation (ESA) and a world-wide organisation (UNESCO) is an excellent example of the global dimension of space and the many perspectives it opens up for cooperation at world-wide level. “From Space to Place” highlights the importance of remote-sensing satellites in understanding our planet, monitoring climate change, benefiting the economy and securing our environment.

Space provides scientists with a unique vantage point from which to study our atmosphere, weather, oceans, ice caps and land, from a global scale right down to infinitesimal changes in ground movement, vegetation, ice cover etc. ESA satellites such as ERS and Envisat observe the Earth day and night to build up our knowledge of our planet, monitoring how natural or man-made phenomena evolve.