Zimbabwe

On 7 November 2022 Zimbabwe and Uganda launched their first satellites. Zimbabwe’s ZimSat-1 and Uganda’s PearlAfricaSat-1 are part of the BIRDS-5 constellation, which is now on its way to the International Space Station (ISS). The satellites are scheduled to be released from the Japanese Kibo module on 21 November 2022.

The launch of these satellites can be seen as a milestone for the efforts in space activities for Zimbabwe and Uganda, supporting mineral exploration, monitoring of environmental hazards and droughts, human settlement and disease outbreak mapping, and other potential fields of applications.

BIRDS-5 is a constellation of CubeSats, and a project led by the Graduate school of Engineering of the Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan. 

Image Source: Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/topics/cubesats

Millions of people in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe are struggling to cope with the aftermath of Cyclone Idai, which has swept through this part of southeast Africa over the last weeks, leaving devastation in its wake. It is thought that more than two million people in the three countries have been affected, but the extent of destruction is still unfolding.

The authorities and military are working  to rescue people, but roads and other transport and communication links are cut off. In order to plan and execute this kind of emergency response it is vital to understand exactly which areas have been affected, especially as accessing people cut off is extremely challenging.

The disaster triggered activations of both the Copernicus Emergency Mapping Service and the…

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), as part of the support it provides to Member States through its UN-SPIDER programme, has requested the activation of the International Charter "Space and Major Disasters" for monitoring the impact of Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe, which hit the country's eastern provinces on 15 and 16 March. The Charter was activated on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Zimbabwe country office.

Geospatial experts from UNDP in Zimbabwe will…

Officials in Zimbabwe say that the floods which follow a crippling drought have destroyed crops, livestock and roads as they swept through villages in the south of the country. They have left some 2,000 people homeless and some communities have been cut off by the damage to roads.

Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe has declared the floods a national disaster.

The floods have further aggravated the problems many Zimbabweans are facing since the crippling drought. More than 4 million people are estimated to be in need of food since last year.

The International Charter: Space and Major Disasters has been activated on 7 February following the request of UNITAR/UNOSAT on behalf of OCHA Zimbabwe. The activation was due to flash floods caused by heavy rain.

The amount of rain is unusual for this area and is almost double the normal level. Low lying areas are especially vulnerable. Mudslides have killed one person. Thousands of people has been evacuated and further flooding is expected.