FP6 project to improve risk management in Alpine regions through GMES

Brussels, 21 Jun 2005

The Commission is to provide 1.1 million euro for a research initiative under the Aeronautics and Space priority of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) designed to improve the risk management of avalanches, landslides and floods in Alpine regions.

The ASSIST project is the fifteenth and latest to be launched under the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative. Mountainous areas account for around 30 per cent of the total territory of the EU and are home to some 30 million citizens. While ASSIST is focused on the Alps, the Commission says that the results of the project can easily be extended to other mountainous regions.

Commission Vice President Günter Verheugen said: 'With the closure of the latest call for proposals for space research projects, the Commission has taken an important step in fostering dialogue between stakeholders from both the provider and the user side of the information in the fields of environment and security.

'Whilst making the lives of citizens safer, we are also helping EU industry to become more competitive through developing a strong and innovative industrial pole for both information services and space/terrestrial infrastructure,' he added.

The ASSIST consortium includes seven partners from Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, and its main goal is to establish pre-operational GMES services and advanced integrated safety and information services for the Alps. The project will combine satellite based observation data such as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images and high-resolution optical satellite data with existing airborne and meteorological data.

At a technical level, the project will establish 'service nodes' such as police, hospitals, fire fighters and air and mountain rescue, which will be organised to support day-to-day monitoring and predictions of risk mitigation scenarios, as well as provide operational capabilities during a crisis situation. Ultimately, the project partners aim to develop a portfolio of safety and risk information services for use within the participating alpine safety information centres.

GMES is a joint initiative by the Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA), aimed at improving environmental and security related information in order to better manage future crises. By establishing pre-operational services through research projects such as ASSIST, the Commission aims to pave the way for industry to develop commercial GMES services, ensuring the emergence of a competitive European GMES industry.

For further information, please consult the following web addresses:
http:///europa.eu.int/com m/space/programm es/gmes_en.html
http://www.gmes.info/

CORDIS RTD-NEWS / © European Communities
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