UN-SPIDER held six webinars and discussion sessions with staff at the Forest Conservation Institute of the Ministry of Environment and staff at the national office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in order to raise awareness of novel satellite technologies and products for monitoring forest fires. Participants took note of the UN-SPIDER recommended practice on burn severity mapping, the capacity of the Sentinel-5P satellite to monitor smoke dispersion in the atmosphere and a procedure developed in Colombia for assessing the susceptibility of vegetation to forest fires.

As a follow-up, UN-SPIDER will provide technical advisory support to the Forest Conservation Institute through the creation of a 20-year database of forest fires (2000–2020), the modelling of the susceptibility of vegetation to forest fires in two geographical areas identified by the Institute and dedicated training on the use of these novel applications.

UN-SPIDER and the Federal University of Santa Maria of Brazil (a UN-SPIDER regional support office) conducted three webinars for staff at the National Institute for Disaster Management, the National Meteorological Institute, the Regional Water Administration Authorities, the Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, the Mozambique Red Cross and universities in order to raise awareness of the applications of novel satellite technologies and products to monitor droughts and map the geographical extent of floods. The National Institute for Disaster Management, the Regional Water Administration Authorities and the Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources gave presentations on their efforts to monitor floods and droughts; the development of an information system on arid and semi-arid areas; the use of the Africa risk capacity tool by the National Institute for Disaster Management; and efforts by the Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources to monitor droughts.

UN-SPIDER, together with the National Institute for Disaster Management, the National Meteorological Institute and other institutions, including universities, discussed the establishment of a technical, inter-institutional team that would focus on the generation of geospatial information to support disaster management using geographical information systems and Earth observation applications. 

In order to raise awareness of the new products available for the monitoring of forest fires and the UN-SPIDER recommended practice on burn severity mapping, a visiting scientist created maps of the burn severity of forest fires in Peten Province, Guatemala, and the central region of Honduras in May 2020.

At the request of the National Civil Protection Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior, UN-SPIDER participated in four workshops organized by the Directorate for its staff in four provincial offices. UN-SPIDER facilitated the virtual participation of experts from several UN-SPIDER regional support offices and national disaster management agencies of Latin American countries.

At the request of the National Emergency Management Agency and the National Space Research and Development Agency of Nigeria, UN-SPIDER conducted three webinars to present UN-SPIDER resources and showcase how space technologies could support flood and drought monitoring efforts. During the virtual meetings, the two agencies discussed their use of geospatial data and geographical information systems in disaster management.