The 2nd Space4Water Stakeholder Meeting was hosted by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs with its partner, the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water online 11–12 May 2023. 31 participants from 20 countries met to exchange knowledge and collaborate on addressing water-related issues with space-based technology and data, both in theory and practice. Fifteen technical presentations were delivered in 4 sessions. In the interactive session “Matching water-related problems with space-based solutions”, participants collaborated to outline approaches to address water-related issues observed and faced by Indigenous communities represented at Space4Water or other members of the Space4Water stakeholder community.

Presentations delivered by Space4Water professionals, young professionals and stakeholders showed a large variety of topics on the use of space technology to address water issues, including disasters such as oil spills, floods and droughts, but also the interplay of in-situ and EO data in hydrology, the production and distribution of water-related data products and digital twins.

Numerous local water-related challenges were discussed and participants collaborated to identify outlines for space-based solutions that can address the challenges.The second Space4Water stakeholder meeting received positive feedback in writing and in via feedback forms. The meeting was rated at 4.8 points out of 5 by the participants. The feedback on the meeting demonstrated interest maintaining the community of practice focused on the using space-based technology to address water-related issues.

The discussion on capacity-building shed light on the important and delicate position universities can have. They educate the future generations and equip them with much needed skills. Curricula can be driven by economic needs or a national agenda. Among represented actors engaged in capacity-building, both, the catch them young and train the trainers approaches considered as promising and important apart from those who are provided for by academic training.

The full report is available for download below.

The Third Space4Water Stakeholder Meeting will be convened at the Vienna International Centre, 24-25 October 2023 in person.