The Space4water Project: Building Bridges for Knowledge Exchange

Today, humanity faces a plethora of challenges related to water. As an effect of drought, some regions’ populations see their water reserves gradually but surely emptying. Around 40 per cent of the world’s population is affected by water scarcity. Elsewhere, people suffer from flash floods, rising sea levels or extreme weather. Rising sea levels affect agriculture, livelihoods, biodiversity and coastal habitats that are home to 900 million people. The next step in fully tapping the potential of space assets to improve life on Earth is to democratize access to these transformative tools and scale their application to benefit communities worldwide. In a world riddled with inequalities, we cannot let the space sector become yet another field of persistent gaps among and within countries. To advance access to space solutions for addressing water challenges, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) launched a dedicated Space4Water project at the beginning of the Water Action Decade in 2018. The Project, with its three pillars of conference series, web portal and community building, addresses knowledge exchange between scientific communities, policymakers, intergovernmental organizations, the private sector, civil society and the public. Through these efforts, we are strengthening communities, amplifying the voices of Indigenous communities, connecting them with professionals with the technical background to address their issues, and sharing a vast range of learning opportunities at different knowledge levels.