EU’s ₧610-M space data center to help PHL manage risks

A s always, we make the data available for all actors and scientific use,” European Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen said.

A side from PhilSA, the Department of Science and Technology is also a partner of the EU in this program.

The new Copernicus data center site will enhance the response capability and with that the resilience of the Philippines to natural and manmade disasters through the strategic use of space data,” the EU said.

CopPhil is the first space cooperation program in Southeast Asia.

EU funded the European Space Agency to kickstart the space program, worth P610 million or €10 million.

Here are the potential uses of

Sentinel data:

1. Detect and monitor potential hazards such as landslides and volcanic eruption

2. Assess the extent and severity of disasters to help local officials on their emergency response.

3. Map high-risk areas for flooding and help government prioritize infrastructure projects such as building of seawalls or reinforcing riverbanks

4. Land cover mapping

5. Ground motion monitoring

6. Detection of marine litter

7. Urban air pollution

8. Flood cover detection

9. Crop development monitoring

10. Developing Philippine National Spatial Data Infrastructure

Science and Technology Secretary

Renato Solidum and PhilSA Director

General Joel Marciano Jr. welcomed the launch of CopPhil.

“CopPhil will develop and leverage our own Space Science and Technology applications to strengthen the nation’s resilience to disasters and climate change,” Solidum said.

For his part, Marciano said this partnership with the European Union is significant as it “strengthens the domestic space value chain, particularly the ability to process and use satellite images and spaceborne data to better manage, and protect our environment and natural resources, and be better prepared in the face of disasters and climate change.”

Luc Véron, European Union Ambas- continued from a16 sador to the Philippines, said CopPhil is a “pioneer initiative in Asia and Asia Pacific and a starting point for a larger programme on Digital Connectivity.”

“In the long term the European Union is exploring the possibility to create a network of Copernicus partners in the ASEAN region aside from other parts of the world. The uptake of innovative technologies such as Copernicus will trigger growth, jobs and modernisation of digital infrastructures that can be used in many sectors in the Philippines,” Ambassador Véron said. European public sector and space agencies from Austria, Italy, Greece, Spain, Germany, France and Romania, and from the European Space Agency also attended the launch.