United Nations

  VIENNA, 28 April (UN Information Service) -- Representatives of various academic institutions from developing countries are to receive basic training in remote sensing technology during a six-week training course which will begin in Stockholm on 2 May. The aim is to familiarize the participants with both theoretical aspects and  practical uses of remote sensing,  to enable them to integrate the subject into their institutions' curricula.
 
 The course is the tenth in a series organized within the framework of the United Nations Space Applications Programme by the Vienna-based United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in cooperation with the Government of Sweden. The training course is part of an ongoing effort by the United Nations to promote wider use of space technology and greater cooperation in the field of space sciences among developed and developing countries. Conferences, training courses, seminars and workshops aim not only at making experts aware of the latest developments in space science, but highlight "down-to-earth" everyday applications for the technologies in question in addition to ways of incorporating space technology in national socio-economic development strategies.

 United Nations-sponsored space-technology related training courses and long-term fellowship programmes are intended to help countries develop indigenous capacity to benefit fully from the growing world-wide body of know-how derived from space research. Participants at the Stockholm course will be instructed in how to use satellite data in a variety of development activities such as natural resource management,  agriculture and environmental protection. By the end of the six-week course, participants are expected to have gained enough training and exposure to begin conducting introductory courses on remote sensing in their respective institutions. The course will take place at Stockholm University, Stockholm and at SSC Satellitbild, in Kiruna.

 Twenty-six participants are expected to attend the current course, from the following 23 countries: Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Kenya, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malawi, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, Viet Nam, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Instructors will come from the European Space Agency (ESA), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Stockholm University, Uppsala University, the Swedish Royal College of Technology, the Swedish National Space Board, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, L&L Monitor AB, SSC Satellitbild and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.