Kathmandu, Nepal: Charles F. Bolden, the Administrator of NASA, launched SERVIR HIMALA, a state-of-the-art earth monitoring system in Kathmandu, Nepal. It integrates satellite and other geospatial data to address pressing environmental and climate change issues affecting the planet.
Initiated by NASA and USAID, SERVIR has been recognised by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) as an early achiever of the GEO vision. SERVER works to bring people and their environment into harmony, said Bolden, who was in Kathmandu to address a symposium on the theme, ”Earth Observation: Bridging the Data Gap for Adaptation to Climate Change in the Hindu-Kush”
“In line with these GEO societal benefit areas, NASA has reinvigorated its applied science programme to bring the results of our ground-breaking research back to the people in areas that address their immediate needs such as public health, air quality, disaster management, water management, weather and climate,” NASA chief said.
“SERVIR includes three regional centres which are working together to address pressing environmental issues affecting our planet,” he said. “The first is in Central America, and the Caribbean, based in Panama; the second is in East Africa and is based in Kenya; and now the third is in the Himalayan region, based in Nepal.”
SERVIR is an example of how an inter-agency partnership can help NASA derived technologies improve the livelihoods of people in the developing world, he underlined.
SERVIR Himala has already been helping map the recent flooding in Pakistan through USAID support and NASA satellite data, he said.
Source: MSN
