Luanda - The Minister of Telecommunications, Information Technology and Social Communication, Mário Oliveira, said the sector is engaged in the space technology project, called “System for Support for Drought Combating Policies in South Angola”.
The minister was speaking during an assessment meeting on the drought situation in Angola, held Monday, in Luanda with North American researcher Danielle Wood.
According to Mário Oliveira, the project was created to help mitigate the impact of the drought in the country and meets the contribution of telecommunications and information technologies, throughout the country's socioeconomic environment.
For the government official, the project, launched more than a year ago by the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication, is a great contribution to the country's development.
It is implemented in partnership with the National Space Program Management Office (GGPEN) and the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
With an execution period of three years, the plan is headed by the North American researcher and director of the Space Enabled Research Group (MIT Media Lab), Danielle Wood, and has the financial support of the North American Space Agency (NASA), evaluated at $550,000 US dollars.
According to the minister, the aforementioned project will allow, with the resources of space platforms, a study of demography and population density, as well as severe issues from an environmental point of view, in order to enable the adoption of a set of measures to improving the quality of life of populations and economic growth.
He said that throughout the work carried out, several identification maps were produced and a set of information was collected, and added that by using this technology, it will be possible to create a database that will make it possible to decide and overcome natural climatic situations that man does not control..
“Man does not control drought alone, but nowadays he has other conditions around him, using scientific studies to minimize this problem, so that populations and the economy do not suffer much damage during the period of environmental and natural disasters”, he highlighted.
In turn, professor and researcher in the space area, Danielle Wood, said that the meeting served to bring some updates to the project, depending on the work that has been carried out to create maps on the state of the drought in Angola.
She said that the National Space Program Management Office (GGPEN) has been using data to map socioeconomic issues and environmental vulnerability.
She added that an information system will be created with GPPEN staff, for the Angolan ministry, in order to help in making some decisions. “We have already made a lot of progress that helps determine, each year, drought levels.
To give nuances to the work, we are currently requesting support from ministries to obtain data on the country's reality”, she highlighted.
She clarified that the people who live in Cunene know the periods when the drought occurs, hence the creation of maps to determine where they are located and thus to help in decision making and measurement.
She made it known that identification maps are being made for the entire country, but especially for Cunene and Huíla, whose data, to be acquired, will be used to study the vulnerability of any region of the country.
The North American leads the research group that uses satellites to solve complex problems on Earth, designing innovative systems that take advantage of space technology. EVC/OHA/TED/DOJ
