On Monday, representatives from space agencies around the world met at the French National Centre for Space Studies and adopted the Paris Declaration. The declaration proposes setting up an international Space Climate Observatory to pool climate data from space satellites and make them available to scientists around the world.
“The ‘Paris Declaration’ we have just adopted proposes to set up a Space Climate Observatory that will act as a hub between space agencies and the international scientific community,” CNES president Jean-Yves Le Gall said.
Numerous topics pertaining to monitoring of climate change impacts were discussed, including such areas as greenhouse gases, water resource management and the use of satellites during natural disasters, all of which have taken on increased scrutiny with the advancements made in technology.
There are actually 50 essential climate variables (ECVs) defined by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). Of that number, 26 of them can only be observed and measured from space. So this makes the need for sharing information all the more important as the world joins together to battle global warming.
“Satellites are vital tools for studying and gaining new insights into climate change in order to mitigate its effects and help societies devise coping strategies,” France’s National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), which hosted the talks, said.
The countries that adopted the declaration initiated by France were China, Japan, India, Europe, Britain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Romania, Israel, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates. Two countries who failed to send representatives to the talks included the Russian space agency and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
“The UK is working with international organizations to encourage the use of space data and technology to tackle climate change,” said Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency Graham Turnock, who signed the agreement in Paris.
“It’s important we come together and agree to work towards improving the quality and sustainability of climate data from space and ensuring it is made freely available to researchers around the world.”