31 January 2025

A Global Response to Disasters: The Birth of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters

In July 1999, the UNISPACE III conference recommended the establishment of an integrated, global system to manage disaster mitigation, relief, and prevention efforts through international cooperation.

In response to this call for action, the European Space Agency (ESA) and France's Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) proposed a groundbreaking initiative: the International Charter: Space and Major Disasters. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) joined this international effort by signing the Charter in October 2000.

Since its inception in November 2000, the Charter has played a crucial role in coordinating global satellite resources to support emergency responses. It provides free, rapid access to satellite imagery to support rescue and emergency responders around the world and has repeatedly shown the power of international collaboration in addressing natural and man-made disasters.

As of January 30, 2025, 943 disasters have been imaged by contributing satellites in 136 countries worldwide.
 

The Charter's evolution over time

Charter membership and contributing satellites

Member space agencies and space system operators cooperate on a voluntary basis, with no exchange of funds, with each organization devoting resources to support the Charter. Including ESA, CNES, and the CSA, there are currently 17 members. Below is a list ordered by the year in which each member officially joined the Charter.

• European Space Agency (ESA) (1999)
• Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) (1999)
• Canadian Space Agency (CSA) (2000)
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (2001)
• Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) (2001)
• Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE) (2003)
• Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) (2005)
• United States Geological Survey (USGS) (2005)
• United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA) (2005)
• China National Space Administration (CNSA) (2007)
• German Aerospace Center (DLR) (2010)
• Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) (2011)
• Brazilian Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) (2011)
• European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) (2012)
• Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) (2013)
• Agencia Bolivariana Para Actividades Espaciales (ABAE) (2016)
• United Arab Emirates Space Agency (UAESA) (2017)

The increase in Charter membership and the growing number of Charter satellites has led to faster and more comprehensive imaging capabilities. The Charter now has 270 contributing satellites, including nine SAR satellites, which allow for thorough, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, global coverage.

In 2023, 26,764 optical and radar images were provided by the Charter to support 63 disaster responses. For 90% of the 2023 Charter activations, the first crisis post-event image was delivered within two hours.

Third-party data contributors (i.e., Earth observation satellite owners or operators that are not Charter members) have also expanded the satellite data and enriched its quality.
 

List of current contributors

• BKA
• BlackSky
• ChangGuang Satellite Technology
• GEOSAT
• ICEYE
• Maxar
• NGII
• Planet
• Satellogic
• XXI Century Aerospace Technology
• Zhuhai Orbita Aerospace Science & Technology

 

Improved access to satellite data for Charter users

Launched in 2012, the Universal Access initiative has allowed organizations to become Authorized Users (AUs) who may trigger Charter activations without being fully fledged Charter members.

Since the principle came into effect, the number of AUs has almost doubled: there are now 98 AUs from 87 countries.

Organisations entitled by the Charter Board to promote and trigger the Charter on behalf of their clients (known as Cooperating Bodies [CBs]) have increased the frequency of Charter activations. These CBs have also provided guidance and training to civil defence organizations on the benefits of the Charter and the process for becoming Charter AUs or members.

Two United Nations organizations, namely the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR/UNOSAT), as well as the Sentinel Asia initiative for the Asia-Pacific region, have official agreements with the International Charter for activating the Charter on behalf of their users.

 

Coordination Agreements for enhanced emergency response

The Charter has signed coordination agreements with the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS), the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites Working Group on Disasters (CEOS WG Disasters) and United Nations' Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System to increase the visibility of Earth observation data available to disaster responders and risk managers.
 

Advancing Charter Operations: The Role of COS-2 and Charter Mapper Software

The COS-2 software, developed by ESA, manages the workflow of Charter activations. It has improved the efficiency and timeliness of satellite data management, utilizing a Web interface to facilitate the work of the different Charter operational staff members. Project Managers (PMs), Emergency on-Call Officers (ECOs), and AUs have individualized dashboards for completing tasks related to Charter activations.

The Charter Mapper, an EO-based processing environment to support activations that was implemented by ESA, has further enhanced the efficiency of operations by allowing PMs and value adders to visualize imagery in full resolution and execute processing services. This then allows for the quick retrieval of geoinformation to provide end users with quality value-added products in a timely manner. The Charter Mapper is intended to ease access and use of the data collection from a Charter activation, as datasets of interest can be downloaded directly from the platform for processing using other software. The Charter Mapper has a suite of processing services capable of retrieving geoinformation from multi-sensor satellite imagery that can be used in value-added products such as burned area maps, flood maps, etc.  

Interview with Krištof Oštir: Reflections on the First Charter Activation and the Future of EO in Disaster Response

In the night of November 16-17, 2000, the village of Log pod Mangartom, Slovenia, located beneath the Mount Mangart range, was hit by a massive landslide. The landslide was triggered by intense rainfall on the 15th. On November 27th, the Civil Protection of Slovenia requested images from the Charter to aid in monitoring and stabilizing the landslide, as well as in assessing damages.

 

This is recorded as Activation 1 in the Charter registry. The PM of the activation was Krištof Oštir, who at the time had just finished his PhD and was working at the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Krištof is now a professor of Earth observation and geoinformatics at the University of Ljubljana and is leading science and application developments in the domains of hazard monitoring, vegetation mapping, forestry and agriculture to archaeology and participates in the development of small satellites for Earth observation.

Q: What was it like being the Charter PM of the very first activation?

A: A few days after the landslide, ESA was contacted, and afterwards, a request was made to the Charter. After providing more information to the Charter, a plan of action was proposed and submitted to the various agencies for tasking satellites. There was no defined protocol or tools in place - we just started working, and we had to use our own tools and handle all data processing ourselves. Data was delivered on physical CDs, which caused delays.

One of the biggest bottlenecks was the physical delivery of the data via the post. The data came from multiple sources with no central access point. However, I will say that even during the very first activation, communication with the Charter was smooth and extremely efficient. In the weeks following the activation, I was in contact nearly every day with Jerome Béquignon from ESA, which was a great help considering the lack of established procedures. In terms of the Project Manager report, there were no templates or established procedures at the time. After this activation, a template was created for the Project Manager (PM) report to help better document future activations and take some of the load off the PM.

Q: Was the Charter useful during this first activation?

A: Yes, several satellite images were obtained from the Charter: ERS-2 (ESA) and RADARSAT (CSA) pre- and post-event radar images, along with SPOT (CNES) pre- and post-event optical images. The Charter played an essential role in providing the first landslide maps. Observation of SPOT imagery, both alone and merged with ERS and RADARSAT imagery, allowed a more detailed insight into the consequences of the disaster. Two SPOT scenes were used to detect the landslide and to evaluate its impact on the natural environment. Since the area was inaccessible for a long time, these maps were crucial for response efforts.

 

The main users were the civil protection and the rescue teams responding to the landslide. This activation began to change the way non-experts viewed EO data for natural disasters, realizing the potential of this emerging technology. The total area of the landslide was estimated to be approximately 26 hectares. The landslide resulted in seven deaths, and it remains the deadliest natural disaster in Slovenian history.

Q: If this disaster happened today, how would the ensuing Charter activation be different to the first one in 2000?

A: The most significant difference is how we access and process the data. During the first activation, satellite data had to be physically delivered, and it was not pre-processed, which caused significant delays. Today, we could access full-resolution satellite imagery almost instantly through ESA’s Charter Mapper processing environment. We could also leverage very high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery and perform advanced change detection, such as NDVI analysis or DInSAR Displacement Mapping, to better assess environmental changes. Radar would be far more useful now, enabling accurate displacement mapping of the landslide area. Additionally, the EO based processing environment in operations since 2021 that is called the Charter Mapper, now integrates cloud-based services for processing data, so users don’t just receive raw images, they have tools to generate geoinformation using analysis-ready data. EO data from all the sensors of the virtual constellation are accessible in a rapid fashion. This shift to cloud-based processing over the past decade has dramatically improved both data access and response time.

Q: What could improve Disaster response efforts in Slovenia today?

A: While Slovenia gets good data and maps through operational EO capabilities such as the Copernicus Emergency Mapping Service of the European Union, geospatial data and information aren’t fully integrated into the operational chain of civil protection. Strong national cooperation is essential. There needs to be better knowledge transfer from universities and other research organizations to the civil protection teams conducting response efforts. Civil protection doesn’t have a dedicated technical team for value-added product development, and Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) products aren’t widely used in rescue operations. Local users often prefer working with local value-added providers with whom they can communicate with directly. The civil protection of Slovenia needs an integrated geospatial team capable of interpreting various sources of EO data to bridge these gaps. And if a Charter activation was to occur in Slovenia, 25 years after activation 1, I would still be available to perform the Project Manager role and will be available until I retire!

Looking towards the future

Looking ahead, the Charter remains committed to driving innovation and embracing new opportunities. This includes fostering greater collaboration among EO disaster services and expanding its network of satellites and data sources. It also focuses on enhancing image processing capabilities and welcoming new AUs and members. Most regions of the world are well covered with Charter AUs; however, dedicated efforts and training may be required in areas lacking coverage, in order to raise awareness and build capacity for this humanitarian initiative.

As the number of Charter activations grows each year, with the last two years both being the most activations ever in a single year, international collaboration and contributions from data contributors and partners will become ever more important. The ultimate goal is to deliver faster and more accurate information to disaster responders worldwide.