Contzen, J.P.

English

Archive of European Integration

--~ SECOND  UNITED  NATIONS  CONFERENCE ON  THE  EXPLORATION  AND  PEACEFUL  USES OF  OUTER  SPACE Statement  by  Dr.  J.P.  CONTZEN,  Head  of the  European  Community  Delegation Mr.  President, Your  Excellencies, (Distinguished  Delegates), Ladies  and  Gentlemen, ~I  /'JJ';l v~ May  I  begin  by  expressing  the  heartiest  congratulations  of the  European  Community  and  of  this  delegation  to  you  Mr. President,  upon  being  elected  President  of  this  Conference. Your  election  bears  witness  to  the  important  role  which Austria  plays  under  your  leadership,  in  the  field  of  inter-national  cooperation,  and  it  will  be  a  guarantee  of  the success  of  ou~ work  here •.  I  should  like  &t  the  s~me  time  to pay  tribute  to  the  efforts  of  Ambassador  Jankowitsch  in  his r o l e  a s  C  h a i r m  a n  o f  t h e  C  om m  i t t e e  f o r  t h e  P  eo~  f u H  s e S-'-17f 0 ut e r  Space •.. The  pre  pa-r at 6r  y  war k  ..  wlri c li"-h as·. b ere r'f -··ac1::omp t·i s·n e  (f'~::::.:--c.~:-:::. means  that  this  Conference  has  been  given  the  best  possible start.  In  this  respect  I  also  wish  to  express  our  gratitude to  professor  Yash  Pal,  as  Secretary  General  to  this  Conference. The  deep  conviction  which  inspires  him  and  the  dedication  which he  has  shown  in  this  long  and  time  consuming  task,  for  which his  efforts  have  been  unstinting,  must  be  a  source  of  admir~­tion  to  all  of  us. . • I .. 2Mister  President, This  Conference  and  all  the  work  which  has  led  up  to  it  are one  more  example  of  the  United  Nations  capacity  as  a  world  wide organisation  to  respond  in  the  most  effective  way  to  the  needs of  the  international  community.  I  anticipate  the  results  of  our discussions  with  the  liveliest  interest  and  I  wish  them  every success. The  European  Community  is  delighted  to  be  able  to  take  part  in this  Conference.  Its  wish  in  being  represented  here  together with  its  Member  States  and  the  European  Space  Agency,  was  to emphasise  its  interest  in  the  matters  under  discussion  and  make it  clear  how  it  uses  space  technology  now,  and  how  it  proposes to  do  so  in  the  future,  to  fulfil  its  own  objectives. Mr.  President,  every  single  one  of  these  uses  are  of  a  peaceful nature.  In  a  great  many  cases  they  echo  the  themes  upon  which· this  Conference  is  concentrating  particular  attention,  two  being the  management  of  the  environment  and  aid  for  development. The  activities  of  the  European  Community  in  the  field  of  applying space  technology,  are,  in  common  with  all  the  scientific  ~nd technical  activities  which  it  undertakes,  chosen  and  oriented  as a  function  of ,the  specific  role  which  is  played  by  Community  re-search  and  development  in  ~he context  of  work  of  the  same  nature undertaken  at  national  level  by  the  Member  States.  These  activi-ties  fit_i_ntQ  _tJJ.e  ov~Fa_ll Community  __ strategy,_wh.ich_1inks..alL  .....  "---· .  - - ·- ....  ..._  -·_  •- ·• --- -- .•.-..-..  ---::-··- ....  --.. ..  - -~ •·---- •  .~·-··-·  ~----c:--the  Community's  scientific  and  technological  work  t~  its'major goals,  such  as  the  encouragement  of  agricultural  competitiveness, the  encouragement  of  industrial  competitiveness,  improving  the management  of  energy  resources,  improving  the  management  of  raw materials,  improving  living  and  working  conditions  and  building up  aid  to  developing  countries.  It  is  in  the  Light  of  this  Long term  strategic  perspective  that  the  Community's  activity  in  the area  covered  by  this  Conference  should  be  seen,  Mr.  President. . . I . • • 3So  far  as  development  aid  is  concerned  I  should  like  to  stress the  particular  Links  which  the  European  Community  has  forged with  various  developing  countries,  ie  the  Associated  Countries in  Africa,  the  Caribbean  and  the  Pacific  in  the  framework  of the  Yaounde  and  Lome  Conventions,  the  Mediterranean  Basin  Coun-tries  in  the  context  of  certain  specific  agreements,  as  well  as countries  in  Asia  and  Latin  America  with  whom  the  Community collabgrates  at  various  levels. At  the  scientific  and  technical  level,  and  in  the  framework  I have  j us t  out l i ned,  the  Communi t y  h·a s  basi c a L  l y  con c e·n t rated its activities  in  two  major  areas,  which  are  covered  by  this Conference,  namely  remote  sensing  from  space  and  telecommunica-tion. The  European  Community  as  such  makes  no  contribution  either  to developing  or  researching  space  transport  systems,  satellites or  earth  based  receiver  systems.  Its  role  is  much  more  one  of using  space  technologies,  and  its  objective  is  to  explore  the possibilities  offered  both  by  these  technologies  and,  if  the need  arises  as  a  result  of  its  research  work,  demonstration  pro-jects  and  financial  support  for  specific  projects.  Its  aim  is also  to  stimulate  and  act  as  catalyst  for  the  application  of these  research  results  tJ  the  benefit  of  all. In  the  field  of  telecommunications  the  Commurri-ty  cyrrcent-r-ates---on--t h e.  p r 0 b rem  o' f  . a'c c e  s s··  t 0  i n f 0 r rna t  ;-o·fr'· b t ---rn e a·n· s· =c) f~ =s· a t:·e-fn·t  e: ·. t e=re ~ communication.  Europe  is  rich  in  information  sources  and  the Community  information  network  known  as  EURONET-DIANE  currently gives  access  to  300  different  data  bases.  This  network  depends at  the  moment  on  ground  based  telecommunications  media,  and  be-cause  of  this  it  is  basically  limited  to  the  Continent  of Europe.  Efforts  have  therefore  been  made  to  develop  the  use  of satellites  for  this  purpose,  with  a  particul~r  view  to  the possible  extension  of  access  to  EURONET-DIANE  to  African  coun-tries.  On  another  level  the  Community  is  currently  helping  with a  test  programme  on  the  publication  and  electronic  distribution of  documents  with  the  object  of  trying  out  user  acceptability; this  programme  will  include  tests  with  satellite  communication • . . I .• 4In  the  field  of  development  aid  the  European  Development Fund  has  financed  a  certain  number  of  national  or  regional satellite  telecommunications  projects  in  Pacific  States (Fiji,  Tonga  and  Samoa  on  the  one  hand,  Papua-New  Guinea, Kiribati  and  Tuvalu  on  the  othe~.  The  Fund  also  finances studies  to  do  with  the  introduction  of  space  technology  in other  geographical  areas,  particularly  a  Regional  Study  for the  Member  States  of  the  African  Postal  and  Telecommunications Union. I  should  take  this  opportunity  to  mention  the  finance  which is  anticipated  for  a  reception  and  visualisation  station which  will  make  it  possible  to  obtain  useful  data  for  meteoro-logical  forecasts,  aerial  navigation  and  agriculture.  This project  will  involve  Senegal,  the  Gambia,  Guinea,  Mauritania and  Mali.  Finally  in  this  field,  mention  should  be  made  of the  implementation  of  a  Regional  Hydrological  forecasting project  in  the  Niger  Basin,  carried  out  under  the  auspices of  the  World  Meteorological  Organisation,  which  will  call  for the  transmission  of  data  by  satellite. In  the  field  of  remote  sensing  from  space  the  European  Commu-nity  has  concentrated  since  1973,  on  evaluating  the  possibili-ties  offered  in  various  sectors  of  direct  value  to  it  by  this new  tool,  on  developing  methodologies  and  making  the  knowledge so  gained  more  widely  known.  Work  in  this  fi~ld  is~rin~al_l_y tarried  ou-t  by--t-he· J  o-~ n-t  Res e a F-C h -C~t  r-e- at -.rs.p r:a:r ~A  :~<:rs~ o:c  ia---~~-:: ..  ::.:-::.. tion  with  an  wide  network  of  national  laboratories. In  the  agricultural  sector  work  is  aimed  at  showing  the  value of  remote  sensing  techniques  in  the  fields  of  cartography  for land  use  and  occupancy,and  the  evaluation  and  control  of  what is  grown  (areas  and  yields).  This  work  is  particularly oriented  towards  regions  which  are  less  favoured  from  the agricultural  point  of  view. • . I • • 5---------------· Significant  results  have  already  been  obtained  from  infor-mation  provided  by  NASA's  LANDSAT  and  EXPLORER  1  (HCMM) satellites.  A  recent  programme  to  simulate  the  imagery  to be  provided  by  France's  SPOT  satellite  has  made  it  possible to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  enormous  promise  held  out  by  the second  generation  of  satellites  operating  in  visible  and infra-red  frequencies. Again  a  recent  study  into  Radar  imagery,  gained  in  the  con-text  of  a  programme  using  Canada's  SAR  580  aircraft,  has shown  the  huge  potential  of  microwave  techniques  in  the  sphere of  agriculture. In  the  environment  sector,  work  undertaken  up  to  now  using information  from  the  NIMBUS  7  satellite  has  been  a  confirmation that  remote  sensing  from  outer  space  can  open  up  new  avenues in  the  field  of  identifying  and  keeping  watch  upon  pollution, whether  atmospheric  or  marine,  as  well  as  in  the  field  of diagnosing  the  condition  of  the  environment,  usually  known  as ecological  cartography.  I  should  like  to  make  particular  men-tion  in  this  respect  of  the  Community's  contribution,  in  the framework  of  the  Barcelona  Convention,  to  UNEP's  MEDPOL  pro-gramme,  which  is  aimed  at  protecting  the  Mediterranean  sea. This  contribut~on is  by  ~ay  of  using  advanced  remote  sensing techniques  for  identifying  and  characterising  small  scale dumping  of  oil  and  other  hydrocarbons  at  sea;~-In  the  mineral  exploration  sector  a  certain  number  of  programmes have  been  implemented  in  close  collaboration  with  Member  States laboratories.  These  have  been  particularly  concerned  with  a certain  number  of  non-ferrous  metals  (Mo,  Zn,  Pb,  Cu,  W)  as well  as  with  uranium.  Geographically  the  work  has  been  concen-trated  at  the  European  area  - Ireland,  the  United  Kingdom, France  and  Spain,  as  well  as  Greenland.  This  La&  has  been  the subject  of  numerous  projects. On  the  basis  of  LANDSAT  and  SEASAT data,  new  identification  and  correlation  methods  have been  brought  to  an  advanced  state.  Recent  programmes  using  SPOT • . I . • 6.-.·~} simulation  imagery  as  well  as  Canada's  Synthetic  Aperture Radar,  SAR  580,  have  had  the  object  of  evaluating  the applicability  of  second  generation  techniques  in  this important  field. Finally,  in  the  framework  of  activities  particularly  directed to  the  needs  of  developing  countries  I  should  like  to  call your  aJtention  to  a  project  which  is  intended  to  help  third world  countries  to  stimulate  their  home  food  production.  The project  involves  the  Niger  Basin  region  and  aims  to  provide information  on  rice  production  which  will  be  passed  on  to Sahel  countries,  and  on  the  effects  of  Niger  flooding  upon harvests.  The  anticipated  advantages  of  this  project  are  not Limited  to  the  Sahel  region  alone.  This  attempt  to  develop  a model  of  the  evolution  of  the  rice  harvest  has  great  value for  a  large  part  of  the  developing  world.  As  a  conclusion  to this  brief  outline  of  our  activities,  Mr.  President,  I  should Like  to  point  out  the  particular  importance  which  the  Community attaches  to  the  question  of  training  scientists  and  technicians from  developing  countries. The  European  Community  at  present  devotes  considerable  effort to  this  question,  whether  by  sending  training  staff  out  to  the countries  concerned  or  by  organising  courses,  visits  to  Member States  Laboratories  or  to  its  own  at  the  Joint  Research C  en t r e •  T  h e  C  om m  u n i t y  h ope s  t o  b u i l d  up  t h i s  ...  ~ac t i v..it y  in_  f u  t_u__r e w  i  t h  a  view  to· -o-rgan +-s-i-ng  -t r a i rri n g  --~-c he-me s --.wit-h  ~t-he:..-:e oYfflt n  e s~  :-:::  ..::,;:~­concerned  themselves  which,  whilst  respecting  specific  develop-ment  needs  would  avoid  the  disadvantages  of  a  two  class  scien-tific  training  system,  with  one  class  for  developed and  the  other  for  developing  countries. countries • • I •• 7Mister  President,  I  am  most  grateful  for  having  been  given this  opportunity  to  present  the  European  Community's  activi-ties  to  this  Conference.  May  I  wish  its  work  every possible success,  and  pledge  the  unstinting tion  to  this  end. ~ Mister  President, Your  excellencies, Ladies  and  Gentlemen Thank  you  for  your  attention. efforts  of  my  delega--·  ··- ·- -··"--··  ------I I 

Statement by Dr. J.P. Contzen, Head of the European Community Delegation, to the second United Nations Conference on the exploration and peaceful uses of outer space. Vienna, August 1982

Statement by Dr. J.P. Contzen, Head of the European Community Delegation, to the second United Nations Conference on the exploration and peaceful uses of outer space. Vienna, August 1982

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