The Disaster Charter: Formulating a Common Space Policy for the Asian Region
- Paper number
IAC-07-E6.1.03
- Author
Prof. Balakista Reddy Vundhyala, NALSAR University of Law, India
- Coauthor
Ms. Debarupa Banerjee, NALSAR University of Law, India
- Year
2007
- Abstract
In an era of accelerated economic globalization, nations in the Asian region have been competing to seize the opportunity by taking an active part in international cooperation and pursuing all-round economic and social development, and made remarkable achievements. However, some areas still remain as challenges to regional cooperation. Natural disasters top the list of such serious challenges. Asia is particularly vulnerable to disasters as it accounts for approximately 90In furtherance of this realization, following the UNISPACE III Conference held in Vienna, Austria in July 1999, the European and French space agencies (ESA and CNES) initiated the International Charter “Space and Major Disasters” (The Disaster Charter) on June 20, 2000. The Charter aims at providing a unified system of space data acquisition and delivery to those affected by natural or man-made disasters through Authorized Users. Each member agency has committed resources to support the provisions of the Charter and thus is helping to mitigate the effects of disasters on human life and property. The Disaster Charter rests on the bedrock of international cooperation that can be strengthened only by concerted regional actions especially in developing regions of the world. Information sharing is the first step, the simplest form of such cooperation. Information exchange between nations can be just as difficult as within them. Therefore, it is plain to see that to a certain degree, the effectiveness of the Disaster Charter depends on the existence of well-maintained and speedy channels at the regional level. Having thus looked at the inter-relation between regional cooperation and the Disaster Charter, and need for Asian cooperation in particular, the chief aim of this research paper is to examine the essential linkage between the regional cooperation in the Asian region and the Disaster Charter, with the proposal for a common disaster policy in the Asian region, a point which shall be duly expanded and analyzed in the present paper.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
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