Opening Plenary Statement by the Chairman, Technical
Forum, UNISPACE III
Ambassador Dr. Peter Jankowitsch
19 July I999
Opening Plenary Statement by the Chairman, Technical
Forum, UNISPACE III
Ambassador Dr. Peter Jankowitsch
19 July I999
Mr. President, Distinguished delegates, Ladies and gentlemen,
It is indeed a great honour for me to join you as the Chairman of the UNISPACE III Technical Forum activities. Today, we begin what historians may someday regard as one of the most significant United Nations Conferences ever held at Vienna in this century. I say this not to diminish the laudable results of two previous UNISPACE Conferences in 1968 and 1982 as well as other UN conferences held here in the past. Since the first UNISPACE conference, the accomplishments of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and its Secretariat are well known and widely acclaimed.
On this occasion, I am pleased that I can share with you some thoughts on what I consider to be important similarities and differences between UNISPACE III and the preceding conferences on outer space. I will also try to explain why I believe UNISPACE III is such an historic Conference. Finally, I will challenge you to become fully engaged in both formal and informal dialogues during this Conference as we build new bridges through space technology from this millennium into the next for all humankind.
First, I would note these similarities between UNISPACE III and the earlier conferences:
• All of them were convened here in Vienna. I am proud that the Government of Austria, my native land, has provided the "launch pad for UNISPACE."
• All of them highlighted the need for, and gains from, international co-operation in space research and applications. I am impressed how much the breadth and depth of that co-operation has grown between each of these conferences.
• All of them have focused on how the benefits of space technology can and should be applied to developing countries. I have observed the remarkable progress in many countries to gain those benefits, but I feel that much more must be done within, and for, other countries to realise the same benefits from space.
• All of them brought together representatives from
Member States of the United Nations, from United Nations system organisations,
and from intergovernmental organisations that have various roles in promoting,
developing or using space technology, while the non-governmental organisations
met in parallel to also consider these issues. I am convinced that UNISPACE
is the periodic spark that ignites the fuel of human aspirations and endeavours
in the space arena.
Let me offer, next, some differences between UNISPACE III and its predecessors:
• This conference is attended by space industries'
representatives invited by some governments as
part of their delegations. I ` believe this breakthrough in representation
from the commercial
space sector is long overdue and unprecedented in United Nations
forums.
• This conference includes, for the first time, a Space Generation Forum as the official Youth Forum of UNISPACE III. I am pleased that a team of volunteers from around the world, including the alumni of the International Space University, will express their visions of space exploration in the new millennium.
• Finally, this conference has been organised not
only to operate with two intergovernmental Committees discussing different
agenda items but also to have them meet concurrently with a Technical Forum
which I am honoured to chair. I'll say more about this Forum later.
Ever since the launch of Sputnik I in 1957, space has been an arena not only for exciting discoveries but also, unfortunately, for serious confrontation. The so-called "arms race in space" raised the spectre of massive destruction. The earlier UNISPACE conferences, held during the "cold war," provided opportunities to find consensus on collaboration in space activities. UNISPACE III is not overshadowed by those tensions. Rather, as was demonstrated this afternoon, UNISPACE III is over-flown by the Mir space station - home for cosmonauts and astronauts from countries previously considered rivals in the space race, and by the International Space Station - now under construction as future home for even more partners co-operating in space.
The rapid evolution of space science and technology and their applications have enabled many, but not yet all, countries to share in the benefits from space. Space communications have provided capabilities for exchanging ideas and information across national boundaries by voice, data and images. Space communications also made significant contributions toward breaking down east-west political tensions by facilitating a greater flow of information. UNISPACE III will not only review space communications and applications but also examine other new uses of satellite-based systems.
The phenomenal advancement in Earth observation technologies and the growth of commercial remote sensing from space have led to understanding our planet more precisely than ever before. They have also enhanced the capability to forecast changes in the Earth's environment and weather, as well as to mitigate the impacts of natural disasters. UNISPACE III will extensively review these Earth observation capabilities but, more importantly, prescribe specific action programmes to address these issues.
UNISPACE III will provide a unique venue for 38 activities that will comprise the Technical Forum. The first activity, the Special Environmental Symposium, "Preserving the Astronomical Sky," was held here last week. The remaining 37 activities - that include two sessions, two seminars, three roundtable, four panels, three symposia, two forums and 21 workshops - will begin this afternoon and continue until next Tuesday afternoon. Together, these 38 activities will cover in depth most of the agenda items of UNISPACE III.
The Technical Forum - along with its schedules, detailed programmes and meeting rooms are contained in the Final Programme for UNISPACE III that you have received. I cordially invite all delegates, as your duties permit, to hear first-hand the leaders of space agencies and industries as well as from world-renowned experts in space science and technology discuss ideas and proposals on how space science and technology can assist in solving national, regional or global problems.
Unlike the earlier UNISPACE conferences, UNISPACE III will attempt to introduce the conclusions and proposals from the Technical Forum activities in time for consideration of relevant agenda items at the intergovernmental meetings of Committee I, Committee II and Plenary. Every activity at the Technical Forum, after ending its discussion, will issue a final summary of its conclusions and proposals to be considered by the appropriate intergovernmental meetings. This summary will be translated and circulated to all delegations. If this process works as planned, the final report from UNISPACE III will contain the first-ever, combined wisdom of all delegates and participants in a single conference document. In due course, this will be complemented by full reports on all activities prepared by their rapporteurs and by separate proceedings of the conference.
Distinguished delegates and Technical Forum participants. The theme of UNISPACE III Space Benefits for Humanity in the Twenty First Century - challenges each of us to focus our dialogues in the formal intergovernmental meetings and at the informal Technical Forum activities on how to bring those benefits to all humankind. The Earth when viewed from space shows only the natural boundaries of land and water. UNISPACE III challenges us to transcend political boundaries in working together to apply space science and technology for the benefit of all Earth's inhabitants, no matter where they live.
If I can close with an analogy, I would note that Conrad Haas, who lived between I509 and I579 in nearby Sibiu, Romania, is recognised by many as the father of the multistage rocket - a significant advancement of rocket technology developed much earlier in China. In the I6th century, Sibiu was in Transylvania, then a part of Austria and so, in a way, Haas can be called the first Austrian space pioneer. Haas foresaw, more than 400 years ago, that a multistage rocket is necessary to attain orbital heights or greater ranges for payloads.
Today, as we reach the end of the 20th Century, we can imagine UNISPACE III as the third or upper stage of Haas' rocket - one that will launch humankind into a higher orbit in the next millennium. UNISPACE III will build on the momentum achieved from the first and second stages of UNISPACE 68 and UNISPACE 82. I think it is very fitting that UNISPACE III will be the last major UN conference in this Century - one that has seen humankind progress from winged flight to space flight!
I thank you all for your attention and I congratulate each of you for choosing to be part of this historic conference.