UN-SPIDER Strengthens Collaboration with Bonn-based UN Agencies and Related Organizations

20 January 2009 - During an official visit to the UN-SPIDER Office in Bonn, Germany, in December 2008, UNOOSA Director Mazlan Othman held a day of discussions with Bonn-based UN agencies and German organizations to review past collaboration and explore future opportunities. The UN meeting included representatives from the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction - Platform for the Promotion of Early Warning (UN/ISDR-PPEW), the World Health Organization - Regional Office for Europe, European Centre for environment and Health (WHO-ECEH), and the Consulting Unit of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on Biodiversity and Tourism for Tsunami Affected Countries. "The Bonn office provides excellent opportunities to work together as One UN across different programmes and agencies and fully utilize synergies to support disaster risk reduction efforts worldwide and other priority areas of the Office" observed Director Othman.
She also held discussions on the German contribution to UN-SPIDER with the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. After a visit to the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine, future areas of collaboration with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) were discussed with the Vice Chairman of the Executive Board, the head of International Cooperation, and the deputy director of the German Remote Sensing Data Center. "There is a great potential to strengthen common activities between UNOOSA and DLR within the fields of disaster management, climate change and basic space science and technology" said Ms Othman.