Implementing Space Technology into Sustainable Development and Resilience Theory

Abstract

The paper explores potential and actual applications of space technology, particularly satellites in the context of sustainable development. The introduction explores the concept of sustainable development from a multilateral perspective and the framework of Rio+20 and the post-2015 development agenda. The paper then introduces space technology and its uses in economic growth, energy, food security, environmental surveillance, including coastal regions, with special emphasis on environmental disasters and the concept of resilience, and the social and welfare uses of humanitarian tele-medicine and tele-education and ways to overcome the digital divide. The conclusion gives recommendations to improve satellite capacity and an analysis of the systemic synergies between space technologies and “green industries” that may lead to tandem growth.