The Angolan Executive recently highlighted the progress made with Space Technology in supporting policies to combat drought in the south of the country, through the production of maps and information, helping the Government in decision-making, with Angosat-2.
For the Minister of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication, Mário Oliveira, speaking at the presentation and updating of data from the work developed, one year after the launch of the project, led by North American researcher and director of the Space Enabled Research Group, MIT Media Lab, Danielle Wood, highlighted that “the project is on track. Once again, we have North American experts working with us. We will now, at this stage, collect, from other Ministerial Departments, information to support what we have on the analysis of drought in the country".
The person responsible reiterates that there is a set of information, since 2019, that today allows us to know, using satellite images and databases, what has happened in recent years in relation to climate issues in the south of the country.
"We are observing not only what we see on the face of the Earth, but also what is underground”, said Mário Oliveira, stressing that the project to support the National Space Program is the contribution of Telecommunications and Information Technologies to a better socio-economic environment in the country.
"We have support from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in the USA, in the study of the drought phenomenon in the country. For some time now, there has been a set of developments with our National Space Program Management Office (GGPEN), using images and satellite programs, to, in fact, study the phenomenon, very particularly, in the province of Cunene”, highlighted Mário Oliveira.
BUT: Space technology will minimize effects of drought in the south of the country
Regarding the project to support the Executive's program to mitigate the impact of the drought in the country, the minister said that it is more comprehensive, as it will also allow, using space platforms, to carry out a demographic study on population density and the most pressing issues. severe from an environmental point of view.
"With it, it will be possible for the different government structures, the Central Government, to carry out actions to improve the quality of life of the populations and, consequently, the growth of the economy, and to know the participation of each region of the country in economic development.”, explained the minister.
Mário de Oliveira said that, with this technology, it is possible to create a database capable of allowing decision-making to overcome natural climatic situations, which man does not control.
"Man cannot control drought on his own. But nowadays it is possible, using scientific studies, to minimize these issues so that our populations and the economy do not suffer too much during periods of environmental and natural disasters, the result of nature itself.”, he stressed.
With studies, he added, it will be possible to have information to mitigate disasters, which makes the economy grow, as well as the country controlling diseases and the extinction of some species on earth, which will be protected and safeguarded.
