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National Space Policy Initiative Lifts Off
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| 11. National Space Policy Initiative Lifts
Off By Peter Martinez South Africa is increasingly reliant on space-based services for communication, broadcasting, navigation and earth observation. The country is also emerging as a regional hub of space science and technology. Space has become a geopolitical, not merely a technical issue, and this highlights the need for a nationally coordinated, strategic view of space science and technology, in line with established national priorities. |
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| In December 2004, the National Working Group on Space Science and
Technology convened a two-day workshop in Cape Town entitled "Space
Science and Technology for Sustainable Development." The workshop,
co-sponsored by the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of
Science and Technology and the Department of Communications, was
attended by 34 representatives from 18 national government departments
and organisations from the space sector in South Africa. To further develop the ideas that were generated at the workshop, a government lead users. group was established, which will compile a user requirements document for government applications of space science and technology. This document will highlight the current uses of space technology among various government departments, thereby allowing potential synergies to be identified and potential duplication of effort and/or costs to be avoided. The work of the government lead users. group is to be complemented by a document under development by the National Working Group on Space Science and Technology, which will provide an analysis of the benefits of improved co-ordination in the South African space arena. These two discussion documents will be supplemented by the results of a survey of the South African space arena currently in progress. More information on the National Working Group on Space Science and Technology, and on the space arena in South Africa in general, is available at the South African Space Portal (www.space.gov.za). A brochure titled "Space Science and Technology for Sustainable Development," which was produced for the Cape Town workshop, is available from the South African Space Portal. |
| Information Box GLOBAL EARTH OBSERVATION SYSTEM PLAN APPROVED By Imraan Saloojee  In mid-February 2005,
the more than 60 members of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO)
endorsed a tenyear implementation plan for creating a future Global
Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). The GEOSS will enhance
global capacity to ensure earth observation is optimally harnessed to
provide information on the earth system, in order to inform policy- and
decisionmaking processes.The South African delegation to the GEO discussions was led by Minister Mosibudi Mangena, who then also addressed the parallel international "Space and Science" conference. The ten-year implementation plan aims to leverage the potential of earth observations, and the systems that enable them, to rapidly advance the global sustainable development agenda. In so doing, it aims to address the global commitments made at the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development with respect to earth observation. The GEOSS will only truly achieve its objectives if it addresses capacitybuilding, particularly in developing countries. The full participation of developing countries, as users and providers of earth observation data and products, is a prerequisite for harnessing global observation capacities with comprehensive coverage. The GEOSS. vision of a future where decisions and actions for the benefit of humankind are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained earth observations must therefore become a common goal. |
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Nominations of potential candidates for the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) Board of Directors
