Posts Tagged ‘Sudan’
Satellite Imagery’s Humanitarian Applications
Satellite imagery is quickly becoming one of the most effective tools available for industry professionals around the world. Now, it is being used in a different vein by people interested in helping to save lives. The Satellite Sentinel Project, a collaborative effort between Google, the United Nations Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT), the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and celebrity-backed NGOs, is designed to help deter any violence in southern Sudan.
The need for the project came into being when the January 9th referendum in south Sudan came to light. The referendum will give people the choice to vote on whether the region should split from the rest of the nation, and given the aftermath two-decade long civil war being fought against the central government in Khartoum, many experts believe the south will vote for independence. As Richard Solash, writer for RFERL.org notes, “Less certain is whether Kartoum will accept the result and allow the birth of the world’s newest country.” Read the rest of this entry »