Space Technology for Sustainable Development: Towards Food Security - SGAC study
The United Nations (UN) and the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) have agreed to jointly organise a Workshop on the theme “Space Technology for Sustainable Development: Towards Food Security”, from 21 to 23 September 2007.
The Workshop will be held in conjunction with the 58th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), which will take place from 24 to 28 September 2007 in Hyderabad, India.
This Workshop is the seventeenth meeting jointly organised by the Office for Outer Space Affairs, under the United Nations Programme on Space Applications, and by the International Astronautical Federation. It builds on the recommendations and experience gained from previous workshops. The UN/IAF Workshop has been endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly as part of the 2007 activities of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications.
The proceedings of the Workshop will be published online by the Office for Outer Space Affairs to increase the awareness of the capabilities and benefits of space technology applications. The report of the Workshop, including findings and recommendations
formulated by the participants, will be presented to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.
Space Generation is conducting a study in order to provide input to this workshop. This survey aims to gather the opinion of students and young professionals in the age group 18-35+, on the studied topic. The general trends from this survey will feed in to the SGAC report to the workshop.
To take the survey click here:
http://www.spacegeneration.org/survey/survey.php?id=Z1V5LBOS
After you take the survey please comment on the issue here. What do you think about the issue at stake? What do you think should be done? What should governemnts do to fight food insecurity? I want to know what you think!
Make your voice be heard at the United Nations!
I think that this issue should really be stressed when promoting space exploration.
Many people wonder why we should spend money on this when the money could be spent on the poor, but there are so many agricultural advantages of space. And I think that anything that could help with feeding humanity is a good thing.
I agree with Tiffany.
Most people just hear how much money was spent on a space mission and wonder why it isn't spend on something useful.
I think the root problem is that the general public has no idea what can be done with space technology to improve the daily lives here on Earth. In addition, even though the budget for space agencies is one of the smaller numbers in a government's budget it has the image of being extremely expensive while other spendings of one's government (be it military, subsidies etc.) are far higher and seemingly not always for the benefit of the people don't get questioned as much (proportionally).
Regarding food security, I think what first needs to be done is to raise the awareness of the general public what space technology can do. By that you teach the politicians as well and then they can make decisions based on that.
This includes that the countries who have this technology available should give the information (and the training to interpret the data) to the countries in need as part of their development assistance.
I think even we can get active and do something - maybe we could cooperate with other NGOs who are active in those regions where food security is an issue and back at the developed countries to raise awareness. We could also address this issue at COPUOS and ECOSOC.
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP), a regional arm of the UN, is also working toward this goal - the effort carreid out by the ICST(Information Communication and Space Technology) Division.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.unescap.org/icstd/
I happy to hear this news and obviously good step. Whatver scinetist want to do they must attract the common people interestet. Why its important to us to explote out space? Whats benefit will go with common people?
Food security is the key issue in world and common people feel it every moment so if SGAC can make them understand and can bring some benefit then they will support SAGC willingly then work will be much faster.
as far as food goes
hydroponics is the way
you can build a warehouse and grow tons of food
you can even build a multi level complex and
there is this bulb
all i remember is that i creates microwaves but it produces a ton of light
and all the light can be piped to each point of illumination
through use of fiber optic lines
i guess one of these was powerful enought to power a huge ware house
but each plant needs different amounts of light
so it could be partitioned for each area
imagine a buliding the base size of a football field (soccer)
and then build it several stories high
each level could grow different crops
with bees of flies, to pollinate
plus you could use several types of bacteria to produce the nutriens you need
on earth we can use guano and any number of nutrients
but for the moon we need to convert these
there is a bacteria found in i think the maya or inca territory
but it formes the best combination of minerals
even in soil that would otherwise be parched
this bacteria re-nourishes the soil
this wold be useful on the moon if we could grow it
it might also produce some good gasses as a bybroduct
i wish i could remember the name
mabe i will soon in the future
but either way
hydroponics or aeroponics are the way to go
in my opinion
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Joined: 2006-09-01