| Overview of the SERVIR Program |
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 The first SERVIR regional operational facility – for the Latin America and the Caribbean region – was established in 2005 through the efforts of NASA, USAID, the Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC), the Central American Commission for the Environment and Development (CCAD), and other partners, at the request of the governments of Central America, as an innovative way to utilize space based assets for development. A second SERVIR regional operational facility – for East Africa – was opened in 2008 at the Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) in Nairobi, Kenya. SERVIR currently provides critical and actionable information for Central America, the Dominican Republic and East Africa, and addresses the nine societal benefit areas of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO): disasters, ecosystems, biodiversity, weather, water, climate, health, agriculture, and energy. The system is comprised of a Coordination Office/Prototyping Facility at the NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and the current two Regional Operational Facilities. The NASA SERVIR Coordination Office/Prototyping Facility functions to articulate the overall program together with resource providers (host organizations, national governments, USAID and other international cooperation agencies), as well as to integrate and prototype new and/or relevant technologies from NASA and other scientific research partner organizations, including US Government agencies, international space agencies, universities, and NGOs that address the needs of countries. The primary implementation and technical work of SERVIR occurs at the regional operational facilities in Panama and Kenya. Both SERVIR facilities are located in existing regional organizations (CATHALAC and RCMRD) and are staffed by in-country / in-region experts. SERVIR regional operational facilities are also responsible for interfacing and coordinating with other international and national organizations in their region related to climate change, environmental monitoring, disasters weather, civil protection, and mapping, among others. Within Central America and the Caribbean, the SERVIR team at CATHALAC has, to date, responded to over 20 natural disasters and 10 environmental threats across the region, as well as developed a geospatial portal which provides improved access to regional data and metadata. The SERVIR-Africa facility is initially focusing on establishing a geospatial portal to provide searchable and viewable earth observation data, as well as offer improved products to address flood forecasting and Rift Valley Fever prediction using unique NASA space-based assets and models. Both centers have a robust training and capacity building program which is strengthening the use of earth observations and models for decision making among government officials, scientists and researchers, NGOs, and academia. SERVIR is a platform for collaboration and cross-agency coordination, international partnerships, delivery services and applications, supporting not only national governments, but also universities, NGOs and the private sector. SERVIR’s approach is anchored in North-South and South–South collaboration. Part of the success is that each regional center—CATHALAC and RCMRD—has different and complementary strengths. Parallel to the technical collaboration underway, the two centers are comparing notes on their management experiences and financial sustainability mechanisms. This two-way exchange of know-how will continue as the centers draw upon each other’s professional, technological, and entrepreneurial expertise, strengthening their respective capabilities and fulfilling SERVIR’s objectives. |
SERVIR Regional Portals
Terremoto en Chile - Chile Earthquake
Le Tremblement de Terre - Earthquake - Terremoto - Haiti
