The Framework Agreement between ASI and the Calabria Region was signed today at the headquarters of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), with the aim of pursuing common objectives in the space and aerospace field, in particular in the field of Earth Observation, application downstream, the dissemination of aerospace culture and the protection of the territory and the environment. Applications in the field of Earth Observation will also be used for environmental, marine, forestry and agri-food monitoring and for the protection of cultural and archaeological heritage.
The Agreement was signed by the President of ASI, Theodore Valenteand by the President of the Calabria Region, Roberto Occhiutoin the presence of the general director of ASI, Luke Vincenzo Maria Salamone and the general manager of the “Territory and Environmental Protection” department, Salvatore Seville.
The initiatives and programs will be implemented jointly and in a coordinated manner. Specifically, the collaboration will concern activities and applications related to Earth Observation for the monitoring and prevention of environmental disasters, in order to ensure timely interventions in critical areas and measure the effects of climate change.
“Space is increasingly confirmed as an essential operational environment for monitoring our planet,” said the president of the Italian Space Agency, Teodoro Valente. “The agreement signed today with the Calabria Region represents a decisive step for the development and use of satellite applications capable of reinforcing in a coordinated and synergic way the policies of local authorities aimed at the development and appropriate management of the territory and resources.
Thanks to the large amount of data coming from satellites we can accurately study many elements related to the protection of different urban, agricultural and marine areas. The key word in all of this is sustainability for a future that is more attentive to the safety of citizens and infrastructures, with a particular eye also towards the management of the protection of cultural and archaeological heritage”.
“I thank the Italian Space Agency and President Teodoro Valente for the positive dialogue we have had in recent months with the Calabria Region, and for the important Agreement that we are signing today,” said the President of the Calabria Region, Roberto Occhiuto. “Since I took office as President, I have always given enormous importance to protecting the environment, safeguarding the territory, and defending the naturalistic beauties of the Region that I have the honor of leading. In recent years, my regional government has deployed – in collaboration with the police and many other entities – resources, men, means and tools never used before to prevent fires and track down arsonists, improve purification for the benefit of a cleaner sea, save our forests and woods, fight environmental crimes, protect our artistic and cultural heritage. Thanks to this agreement we will have the opportunity to develop future space applications to protect the environment and to use the data already in possession of the ASI to have an increasingly widespread, technological and innovative control of the territory: we become a virtuous national and European model”.