In his statement at a week-long series of virtual events organized by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), Mr. Hans Guttman, the Executive Director of Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) shared how ADPC is supporting disaster managers in utilizing Earth observation data to prepare for and respond to disasters such as flood and drought.

“ADPC utilizes publicly-available Earth observation data to equip disaster managers with tools and capacity to prepare for and respond to disasters such as flood and drought. In 2020, ADPC works with the Mekong River Commission to improve the Mekong region’s flood forecasting and monitoring – potentially making hundreds of thousands of people safer from future flooding,” Mr. Guttman said.

The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is a partnership of national governments and participating organizations that envisions a future where decisions and actions that benefit humanity are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observations.

ADPC is a participating organization of GEO and promotes the use of satellite-based Earth observations in Asia and the Pacific region primarily through its SERVIR-Mekong project.

GEO Week 2020 took place from 2-6 November 2020 to showcase partners’ efforts towards implementing The Canberra Declaration 2019. The event hosted live discussions aimed at promoting open data sharing to ensure that Earth observations benefit societies and economies.

ADPC’s official statement available on GEO’s website.

ADPC, through its SERVIR-Mekong project, is supporting the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat on flood and drought management and country-level services such as drought and crop yield forecasting.

Partner inputs and initiatives from GEO Week 2020 will be featured in the GEO Highlights Report that will be launched as an interactive website in the near future.

SERVIR-Mekong is a joint initiative of USAID and NASA to harness space technology and open data to help address development challenges related to climate change in Lower Mekong countries. ADPC is the prime implementer of the project alongside Spatial Informatics Group (SIG), Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and Deltares.