EU offers PH ‘eye in the sky’
Credit to Author: NEIL JAYSON SERVALLOS| Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2019 10:11:14 +0000
THE European Union (EU) has introduced to the Philippines its satellite surveillance and monitoring system in a bid to address environmental and security issues in the country.
British geographer Allan Mills, European consultancy group COWI Belgium chief, said the EU, whose relations with President Rodrigo Duterte had turned sour over human rights concerns, wanted to share to the Philippines its Copernicus system for better environment mapping, which may reduce risks from disasters and to improve environment and food security in the country.
Copernicus, dubbed as “Europe’s eyes on earth” was previously known as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security). It is the European Program for the establishment of a European capacity for Earth Observation.
“We can provide enormous amounts of data which would help map out the environment and lands to assess and better prepare for risks,” Mills told reporters.
Mills said that the Copernicus satellite system could provide daily information and analysis on the global atmospheric composition, climate forcing, emissions, marine environment, among others through images and other data.
Oksana King, business manager of geoanalytics organization Rezatec, said its satellite data with Philippine water companies, for example, saw that Metro Manila needed to optimize land use to improve water quality among communities.
“Through satellite analytics, we are able to map out risk areas for pollutant loading and see pollution in the waters,” she said.
Enrico Stampelli, EU delegation to the Philippines, said the organization sought to enable Filipinos to access their data which could help improve the quality of life among communities as it saw how crucial environment was to the country.
“There are problems in the Philippines that need monitoring and addressing and we will continue to dialogue with the Philippine government to determine which kind of support the Philippines needs,” Stampelli told reporters.
The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member- states.
Duterte labelled the EU, the Philippines’ second most important trading partner, “stupid” and warned he would not stay silent amid Western condemnation of his violent anti-crime and anti-drug policies.
Europe has been vocal in its criticism of Duterte’s landmark policy, which has left nearly 4,000 drug suspects dead.
Stampelli said the Copernicus system initially received positive response from the Philippine government, especially from the Department of Science and Technology and said it was up to the DoST if it would accept its assistance.
“We’re simply here to present out idea and technology. It is up to the Filipinos and the government,” he said.
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