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European Space Agency

Press Release

International meeting on space and world heritage
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21 October 2002

An international conference on Space Applications for Heritage
Conservation will open in Strasbourg, France on 5 November. The aim:
to bring together experts on space and those concerned with the
conservation of national and world heritage sites, and to look at the
potential educational uses of space technologies for heritage
conservation. 

The conference also commemorates the 30th anniversary of the UNESCO
World Heritage Convention and 30 years of using remote sensing
satellites for civilian purposes. EURISY, the International Space
University, NASA, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and ESA are
organising the conference which is co-sponsored by the Council of
Europe, the City of Strasbourg and the Alsace region.

Present at this international conference will be distinguished experts 
from the archaeological, remote sensing and heritage conservation 
disciplines, and experts from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and 
North America will present their experiences and share their knowledge 
about our global heritage.

It was in 1972 that the Convention Concerning the Protection of the
World Cultural and Natural Heritage was adopted by the General
Conference of UNESCO. To date it has been ratified by 175 countries
and has become the most important international legal instrument for
the protection of heritage.

Its primary mission is to define and conserve the world's heritage by
drawing up a list of sites whose outstanding values should be
preserved for all humanity and to ensure their protection through
closer cooperation among nations.

World heritage sites include the Grand Canyon, which retraces two
billion years of the earth's history; the enormous biodiversity of the 
Galapagos Islands, which inspired Charles Darwin in his theory of
evolution and the historic city of Strasbourg, the site of the
conference. These cultural and natural sites constitute, together with 
many others, a common heritage whose disappearance would be an
irreparable loss.

Earth observation from space has many applications for safeguarding
the Earth on which we live. One of the less well-known is that of
keeping an eye on the state of conservation of the natural parks and
reserves included in the list of world heritage sites. Satellites
already being used for this purpose include Meteosat, Landsat, Spot
and IRS. New generation satellites, such as ESA's Envisat, can also
provide high resolution images and wider spectral capability including 
microwave frequencies. 

To participate at the congress and/or the press event please contact: 
Mrs Mary Fouassier Assistant
EURISY Association Tel: +33 1 47 34 00 79 email: eurisy{at}MicroNet.fr

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