THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Indian Space Research Organisation chairman A. S. Kiran Kumar has said that ISRO will soon have earth observation satellites with better observation capability.

Speaking at the international conference on climate change and disaster management at Kovalam, he said the future of earth observation depended on three factors - continuity and improvement of the operational constellation of satellites, sustained observation of all climate variables and global co-operation for comparing observation data.

Another keynote speaker at the conference, Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (French Space Agency), urged coordination of space missions and pooling of resources for stepping up space-based observation of climate change phenomenon.

However, he termed climate change as an ‘unprecedented threat.’ Tanja Masson-Zwaan, president, International Institute of Space Law (IISL), emphasised the importance of space technology in solving issues connected with climate change.

She opined that climate change and disaster management were perhaps the most important issues today. Governor P. Sathasivam, who inaugurated the three-day event, called for professionalising disaster management by inducting trained disaster managers in the administration and re-orienting existing staff through short-term training programmes.

“Disaster management calls for convergence of technologies and institutions with a holistic approach covering a suitable mix of policy reforms, institutional changes and technology options.

Without this, it will not be possible to achieve longer-term immunity against natural and man-made disasters,” Mr Sathasivam said.

Former ISRO chairman G.Madhavan Nair, who heads the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), and IAA secretary-general Jean-Michel Contant also spoke.

The event is being jointly organised by the IAA, ISRO, IISL, Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment.