© ESCAP/Benny Christian

Reliable data is key to designing policies that advance the Sustainable Development Goals, and sometimes that data comes from space. Working with fellow members and associate members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Government of Indonesia has been instrumental in harnessing the power of space applications to help advance the SDGs.

In October 2022, as the co-organizer of the fourth ESCAP Ministerial Conference on Space Applications for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific, the Government announced its support for three regional cooperation initiatives to accelerate the rollout of the Asia-Pacific Plan of Action on Space Applications for Sustainable Development. These include establishing a constellation of satellites for real-time pre-disaster risk assessments focused on disaster hotspots; the mapping of disaster hotspots using digital tools such as machine learning; and the establishment of a new youth forum on space.

Ministers and heads of national space agencies attending the conference endorsed the Jakarta Ministerial Declaration on Space Applications for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific. The Declaration calls for using innovative space applications to address outstanding and emerging development challenges of persistent poverty, food security, threats to global health, and increasing vulnerability to disasters, climate change and environmental degradation.

"Through the Fourth Ministerial Conference, we fully support the Asia Pacific Action Plan on Space Applications for Sustainable Development both in terms of research and innovation, as well as in terms of formulating policy recommendations related to the use of space," said Laksana Tri Handoko, Chair of the National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia (BRIN).