A UN delegation headed by Ms. Margareta Wahlström, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Disaster Risk Reduction, Assistant Secretary General of UN and UNISDR Chief, visited RADI on March 15.

RADI Director-General Prof. GUO Huadong extended his welcome to Ms. Wahlström and the delegation and then gave a brief introduction to RADI, with special focus on its work in disaster mitigation using space technology. Ms. Wahlström expressed her appreciation and recognition to RADI for its research capacity and contribution to disaster mitigation. She then introduced the HFA2, known as “Post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction”, and wished that more cooperation can be conducted in the future between UN and RADI under this framework. The meeting then listened to the updates on the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), IRDR CHINA and CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence on Space Technology for Disaster Reduction (SDIM) respectively.

Focusing on topics like IRDR science plan, application of space technology in developing countries for disaster mitigation and the role of big data in disaster risk management, the participants had in-depth discussions, both agreeing that interdisciplinary, integrated research shall be enhanced for better identification and control of disaster risks, that RADI shall take full advantage of its capacity in using space technology for disaster mitigation and heritage protection under the UN disaster mitigation framework, and that pragmatic cooperation in the field of space technology for disaster mitigation shall be further promoted.

Ms. Kan Fengmin, Senior Coordinator of UNISDR, accompanied Ms. Wahlström in the visit.