SERVIR-Amazonia II officially began operations at a workshop held in Lima between May 29 and 31. Representatives from the center, as well as from USAID and NASA, met to discuss the first activities to be implemented within the framework of the 2024 work plan. This workshop also served to initiate discussions on the different work plans (MEL, Capacity Development for Localization, Communications and Social Inclusion) that must be prepared and submitted for approval at the end of July.
This meeting with the technical team of the program allowed for the establishment of work guidelines, with the aim of positioning 16 geospatial services that will allow authorities and users to improve decision-making in the face of the threats facing the Amazon rainforest, addressing issues of adaptation and mitigation of climate change.
Meeting with the technical team of the program to establish work guidelines, with the aim of positioning 16 geospatial services.
Regarding the expectations that the technical experts have of the project for this second phase, Vanesa Martín-Arias, Regional Scientific Coordination Leader for Amazonia at NASA’s SERVIR Scientific Coordination Office, said: “I hope that within these next three years there will be much collaborative work developed between the three local organizations that lead this project and they will take on more responsibilities, in addition to the technical work they already do. They will also be trained to manage and handle larger projects in the future, to continue their conservation work.”
During the meeting, the main objectives of the work plan were discussed and strategies for its implementation were coordinated. This workshop included the valuable participation of local partners of the program, including representatives of SIG (United States), CIAT (Colombia), EcoCiencia (Ecuador), Imaflora (Brazil) and Conservación Amazónica – ACCA (Peru), as well as the participation of Vanesa Martín-Arias (NASA), Dr. Nancy D. Searby (NASA) Pete Epanchin, Ph.D. (USAID) and Kevin Fox (USAID).
Pete Epanchin, Senior Advisor for Climate Resilience and Adaptation, USAID’s Office of Resilience and Food Security, pointed out why the Amazon was considered to develop SERVIR services: “USAID and NASA have been working together on SERVIR Amazonia for quite some time, and we have other centers elsewhere, so that model that brings satellite information data to users at the local level has been developing for quite a few years, and when we started hearing about the interest in bringing this to the Amazon region, we were very excited because that represented an opportunity to respond to that demand. That gave us the idea to come here. We know that there are many regions in the world that can also benefit from both the investment that we make in space with satellite information data, as well as USAID’s investment on the ground at the local level to address development challenges. That is why, when we worked with our USAID colleagues in the South American region, they became interested and joined in this context to address the challenge of conservation in the Amazon.”
The workshop was held within the framework of the SERVIR-Amazonia Program, which is part of SERVIR Global, a joint development and financing initiative between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Source: ACCA