Real Risk

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HEN THE

NITED

Nations General Assembly held the

World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)

in Johannesberg, South Africa in September 2002, it

was clear that progress in implementing sustainable develop-

ment was lacking. Sustainable development, as described at the

WSSD, indicated the need to implement rather than debate

solutions. Instead of a political debate, the 2002 meeting turned

out to be a summit of actions and results, where it was under-

stood that there is no ‘magic bullet’ to solve the problems of

developing countries, particularly Africa, and that practical and

sustained steps are needed to address many of the world’s most

pressing problems for sustainability and societal benefit.

The WSSD should be used as a benchmark for governments to

establish key performance indicators in committing themselves to

implementing safe minimum living standards, which are neces-

sary to ensure quality of life and environment, especially for the

poor. The summit was described as a “successful effort” by United

States Secretary of State Colin Powell, who said: “I think it shows

that we have a shared vision of how to move forward. I think it

shows that the world is committed to sustainable development.”

He added, however, that the real challenge lay “in the actions that

need to take place in the months and years ahead”.

NASA is responding to this call for action by initiating a

community-wide inventory of NASA research and applications that

can be used by African countries and organizations to address their

societal problems. There may be many such investments involving

the continent of Africa, whether through validation of NASA science

products or through their application in solving real-life societal

problems. These are NASA investments and may be made either

through the Research and Analysis (R&A) or Applied Sciences

programmes as competed or earmarked grants, or independently

funded from a NASA centre to a university partner.

This inventory will be used to gather information useful to

the development of a comprehensive NASA programme for

sustainable development where NASA investments are made

efficiently for global benefit.

Background to NASA’s involvement

The WSSD brought together tens of thousands of participants,

including heads of state and government, national delegates

NASA’s plan for sustainable development in

response to WSSD goals and objectives

Shahid Habib, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

Stephen Ambrose, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC

Source: Anyamba and Tucker, 2005

Growing season (July-October) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) anomaly for 1984 showing large-scale drought

across the Sahel zone of Africa. Most of the region experienced persistent drought conditions throughout the 1980s