- Email: [email protected]
Africa’s first International Astronautical Congress: Highlights of IAC 2011
Space Policy 28 (2012) 54e58
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Space Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/spacepol
Report
Africa’s first International Astronautical Congress: Highlights of IAC 2011 Peter Martinez South African Astronomical Observatory, PO Box 9, Observatory 7935, South Africa
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history: Received 8 November 2011 Accepted 9 November 2011 Available online 16 January 2012
The 62nd International Astronautical Congress (IAC), held in Cape Town from 3 to 7 October 2011, was a significant milestone in the development of the African space arena. The recent emergence of a number of African countries as space actors provided fertile ground for engagement with the global space community through the medium of an IAC. A large number of space actors, in Africa and globally, coordinated their activities during the triennium 2009e2011 to build up to this historic first IAC in Africa. This paper discusses the main highlights of the congress and its immediate and potential long-term impact on the development of the African space arena. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is a fixture on the international space calendar. The Congress, which is organised by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) in partnership with the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), provides a platform for exchange of information, networking and cooperation opportunities and serves as a showcase for industry. The participants at the IAC are drawn from national space agencies, government departments, private companies and many academic and research institutions. The IAC is a platform that is sometimes used by leading public and private sector actors to make announcements or to engage in high-visibility actions. Hence it has become a means by which emerging space nations can showcase their capabilities and present their plans to the rest of the global space community. The first IAC was held in 1950 in Paris, when 18 representatives from the astronautical societies of seven countries met at the headquarters of the Aéro-Club de France and laid the foundation for the establishment of the IAF in September 1951. Since then the congress has grown steadily in size in terms of both the number of participants and the number of topics covered. During the course of its 61-year history, from 1950 to 2010, the congress was held in Europe 45 times, six times in North America, six times in Asia, once in the Middle East, twice in South America and once in Australia, but never in Africa (Fig. 1). Since the early 2000s, the space arena in Africa has evolved considerably, with the emergence of a number of national space programmes, and dedicated national space agencies in Algeria,
E-mail address: [email protected]. 0265-9646/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.spacepol.2011.12.004
Nigeria and South Africa. Together with Kenya, these countries are working towards developing an African Resource Management (ARM) satellite constellation [1]. The basic idea behind the ARM constellation is that each country contributes one satellite to the constellation but can access data from the other satellites. Other countries in Africa are expanding their capabilities to use spacederived geospatial data, and are beginning to consider coordinating their national space activities, which is usually a precursor to establishing a more structured mechanism, such as a space commission or a space agency. In the light of these developments, there was a growing sense in the space community in the late 2000s that the time was right to have an IAC in Africa. The question was, where in Africa? In terms of IAF rules, only an IAF member organisation may bid to host an IAC, which meant that the possible options were very limited. In the first months of 2008 a group of South African space entities rallied behind the then only South African IAF member entity, Sunspace, to submit a bid to host the IAC in Cape Town in 2011. The South African bid was presented at the 59th IAC in Glasgow in 2008. The Federation approved the bid, setting the stage for the first IAC on the African continent. At that same congress, the South African National Research Foundation was admitted as the second South African member of the IAF, paving the way for that government agency to lead the organisation of the congress e a critical element in the ultimate success of IAC 2011. 2. Maximising benefit for Africa e the build up to IAC 2011 From the outset the IAC 2011 was seen as an African congress, not just a South African event. This pan-African emphasis was promoted on two levels - by the international space entities working in Africa, and by the African space entities themselves.
P. Martinez / Space Policy 28 (2012) 54e58
55
Fig. 1. Locations of previous International Astronautical Congresses from 1950 to 2010. The encircled dots indicate locations where the congress was held more than once.
At the global level a large number of international space entities decided to coordinate and align their activities in Africa during the triennium 2009e2011 to build up to IAC 2011. The activities are too numerous to list individually, but a list of the entities involved in this coordinated effort is instructive. They included: COSPAR, DLR, Eurisy, European Space Agency, European Space Policy Institute, International Academy of Astronautics, International Astronautical Federation, International Institute of Space Law, Space Generation Advisory Council, UNESCO and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs. At the African level the main forum for intra-African cooperation is the African Leadership Conference on Space Science and Technology for Sustainable Development, generally referred to in the space community as “the ALC.” The ALC conferences take place every two years and bring together all the leading public and private sector space actors in Africa. The 3rd ALC meeting took place in Algiers from 7 to 9 December 2009. At that meeting there was a session dedicated to planning Africa’s participation in the IAC 2011. One key outcome of the session was the proposal to dedicate the first day of IAC 2011 to space in Africa as a high-level “Africa Space Day” (see below). The ALC Steering Committee took the opportunity to meet regularly on the margins of the COPUOS sessions in Vienna during 2010 and 2011 to develop further plans for African participation in the IAC 2011. It was agreed that the fourth ALC, scheduled to take place in 2011, would be timed to occur the week preceding the IAC 2011 and that it would serve as the final African regional preparatory meeting for IAC 2011. The fourth ALC took place in Mombasa from 26 to 28 September 2011 with the theme “Developing a Shared Vision for Space in Africa”. The main outcome of this conference was the ‘Mombasa
Declaration on Space and Africa’s Development’, which provides the basis for a shared vision for space in Africa and an agenda for the ALC for the coming years.1 The Mombasa Declaration served as an input to the deliberations in the Africa Space Day at IAC 2011. The ALC also discussed the relationship between the ALC and the IAF in Africa. We will discuss this relationship in Section 4 of this paper. 3. Highlights of IAC 2011 The IAC 2011 took place in Cape Town from 3 to 7 October 2011. The Congress was attended by 2968 participants from 75 countries and it is worth noting that 550 participants from 13 African countries (making up 18% of all participants) attended. This represents, by far, the largest number of African participants at any IAC to date. This did not happen just because the IAC 2011 took place in Africa, but because of a number of interventions that made it possible for more Africans to attend the IAC. The first of these was the decision by the IAF Bureau, ratified by the General Assembly in 2010, to offer a 50% reduction in the registration fee for African delegates in all registration categories. The second intervention was the establishment of a Developing Countries Support Fund to assist delegates from developing countries to attend IAC 2011. Two-thirds of this fund was earmarked to support African delegates. One of the most pressing needs in the African space arena is human capital development. Hence a particular emphasis was placed on making the IAC 2011 as accessible as possible for students
1 The ALC 2011 conference and the Mombasa Declaration are both discussed separately elsewhere in this issue.
56
P. Martinez / Space Policy 28 (2012) 54e58
Table 1 Attendance and presentation figures for the International Astronautical Congresses for 2001e2011. Year
Venue
Abstracts submitted
Papers accepted
% declined
Technical sessions
Total attendance
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Toulouse Houston Bremen Vancouver Fukuoka Valencia Hyderabad Glasgow Daejeon Prague Cape Town
1250 1574 1390 1429 1520 1838 1649 2427 2095 2442 2482
907 1118 1150 1054 929 1437 1159 1761 1634 1712 1743
27% 29% 17% 26% 39% 22% 30% 27% 22% 30% 30%
114 118 127 153 143 169 141 152 157 164 160
1890 1721 2221 2161 1819 2166 1953 3131 3061 3407 2968
and young professionals from Africa. In terms of the age distribution of the delegates who attended, 644 delegates were students and young professionals under the age of 35. Sixteen percent of these students and young professionals were from Africa. The African students and young professionals made up 19% of all African participants. This compared favourably with the 22% ratio of nonAfrican students and young professionals to other non-African participants. In terms of the technical programme, a total of 2482 poster and oral paper abstracts were received for IAC 2011, indicating a high level of interest in this first African IAC. Of these, only 1743 oral and poster papers could be accommodated in one of the 160 technical sessions (corresponding to an average of 18 parallel sessions each day). These figures show that IAC 2011 continued the upward trend in delegate participation and in the number of presentations (Table 1). The industrial exhibition was also well supported, with 64 exhibitors from 21 countries. In the next few subsections we focus on those aspects of the congress with particular relevance to Africa. 3.1. Africa Space Day The concept of an “Africa Space Day” found expression in a fourday period starting on 30 September and culminating on 3 October. The “Africa Space Day” is described in more detail below. The first event linked to IAC 2011 was the 21st UN/IAF Workshop on Space for Human and Environmental Security (30 Septembere2 October). The sessions in this workshop touched on Space and Climate Change, Space for Food and Water, Space for Health, and Space for Environment, all topics of direct relevance to Africa. The workshop closed with a roundtable, held jointly with the International Academy of Astronautics’ Academy Day on Sunday 2 October, which produced a series of recommendations for the UN and the IAF to continue working towards developing and implementing further activities and pilot projects that would promote the use of satellite data and information products for human and environmental security. This was the first time that the UN/IAF workshop was linked to the IAA Academy Day and it could be an interesting interaction to develop in future IACs. On Monday 3 October, the African Space Leaders Round Table placed a number of African space leaders on centre stage to share their visions for the development of space in Africa. This event is described in more detail below. The official opening of the congress provided an opportunity for South African political leaders to demonstrate their political commitment to space activities in the country and the region. Speeches were given by the Minister of Science and Technology, the Deputy Minister of Communications and the Minister of Trade and Industry (who has the over-arching responsibility for space activities in South Africa). All the speeches underscored the importance
that the present South African government attaches to the societal benefits to be derived from space science and technology. It is instructive to quote here some of the remarks from the speech of Naledi Pandor, Minister of Science and Technology, which demonstrate the South African approach to cooperative governance of space activities: South Africa has a long history in space science and technology. However, it was only last year that the South African government finally placed all the necessary institutes, strategies and policies together e the Department of Science and Technology launched both the South African Space National Agency and released a Space Strategy, the Department of Trade and Industry appointed the members of the Space Council and focussed on the development of space technology in its Industrial Policy Action Plan, and the Department of Communications committed to expanding our broadband communications through upgrading infrastructure, tied into satellite communications in one way or another. So it is with national pride that I stand here today, in front of this international audience, and say that South Africa has a space programme that is not only about the pursuit of frontier research and knowledge as a goal in itself, but is also about developing all aspects of the space industry here at the tip of Africa for the benefit of the whole of Africa. 3.2. African Space Leaders Round Table On the afternoon of 3 October, African space leaders were given the opportunity to present their visions for the development of space in Africa on a national and continental level. The panel was moderated by Johann-Dietrich Woerner, Chairman of the DLR and Dr Adigun Ade Abiodun, Founder of the African Space Foundation. The panel comprised Seidu Mohamed (Nigeria), Sandile Malinga (South Africa), Harry Kaane (Kenya), Tahar Iftene (Algeria) and Moustafa Masmoudi (Tunisia). Two young African space professionals, Olayinka Fagbemiro and Etim Offiong were also given a brief opportunity to share their perspectives. The session started with a documentary prepared by the DLR on the benefits of space for Africa. The audience also viewed a recorded message from the President of Tunisia in which he expressed his best wishes for the success of the first IAC on African soil and invited the congress to come to Tunisia. The two moderators posed three questions to the panellists: - What are their countries’ visions for space activities nationally and for Africa’s participation in space activities globally? - What are the current national contributions towards realising the visions articulated above? - What are some of the practical challenges confronting the implementation of space activities in their countries and in the region? The entire 1 h plenary discussion is accessible online,2 so here we will only summarise some of the golden threads that emerged from this discussion. Not surprisingly, all the panellists gave visions that emphasized the societal benefits of space technology for Africa’s development in areas such as food security, disaster management, tele-education and tele-health. Common challenges that were identified were political support, human capital development and the need for knowledge and know-how transfer to allow African countries to develop their own space-related competencies. Several panellists pointed to the need to intensify intra-African cooperation and cited
2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v¼zcWzSv3M4IQ.
P. Martinez / Space Policy 28 (2012) 54e58
the example of the African Resource Management constellation, to which the panellists from Algeria, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa all reiterated their commitment. Astronomy and the African bid to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project were also cited as fertile ground for intensifying intra-African cooperation. The issue of how best to coordinate intra-African cooperation was also discussed. Several panellists expressed the view that African countries should acquire experience in bilateral and multilateral cooperation in space as a first step (with ARM being cited as a practical example) before considering other more structured platforms of regional cooperation, such as a continental space agency. In terms of cooperation with the global space community, the panel acknowledged that Africa has much to learn from more advanced spacefaring nations and that African countries would continue to seek out mutually beneficial cooperation with more advanced space partners. It was recognised that, while not all partners have equal capability, such cooperation should preferably not be too asymmetric and should be pursued with a philosophy of “what can we do together?” rather than “what can we do for you?”. 3.3. Other associated events In addition to the events described above, there was a number of other associated events that occurred in parallel with the IAC 2011, with some particular African component. C
C
The 3rd International Meeting of Members of Parliaments took place on 2 October 2011. The event was organised by the IAF and hosted by the South African Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry. Fifteen South African parliamentarians from several portfolio committees attended the event, along with nine other parliamentarians from the Czech Republic, Germany, Kenya, Nigeria, Thailand and Tunisia. The theme of the meeting was “The use of space technology for managing food, water and energy resources”. The Manfred Lachs Moot Court Competition took place concurrently with the IAC 2011. For the first time, teams from three African countries, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, competed in an unofficial “African round,” with a view to establishing a fully-fledged, official African round of the Moot Court in future years. This unofficial “African round” was won by Nigeria, with South Africa in second place and Kenya third.
57
During the IAC 2011, the IAF African Regional Group was established under the co-chairmanship of Peter Martinez from South Africa and Mustapha Masmoudi from Tunisia. The Terms of Reference of the Group are defined in such a manner as to be complementary with the ALC and to avoid overlap or duplication with the mandate and activities of the ALC. The IAF African Regional Group is open, on a voluntary basis, to all members of the IAF based on the African continent. The aims of the IAF African Regional Group are as follows: C
C
C
C
C
To encourage IAF member entities in the region to share their experiences and to deepen mutual understanding with a view to strengthening regional cooperation in space activities; To encourage more African space actors to join the IAF and to participate in its activities in Africa and globally; To articulate regional interests in space science and technology within the IAF framework, discuss membership matters and support African proposals on potential locations for hosting future International Astronautical Congresses in Africa; To encourage and promote active African participation in IAF structures, such as committees, and to nominate and support African candidates for positions in the IAF open to election; To act as a point of contact between the IAF and the ALC to ensure that the activities of the IAF and its partner organizations, the IAA and IISL, on the African continent are complementary to and coordinated with the ALC.
In addition to the establishment of the IAF African Regional Group, there were a number of other outcomes of IAC 2011. Following the successful competition of three African countries in a separate “African round” in parallel with the Moot Court competition at IAC 2011, the IISL has decided to establish an African region in this competition such that, starting in 2012, there will, for the first time, be an African round of the Manfred Lachs Moot Court Competition. This will help to build space law capacity in Africa, as it has done elsewhere. Another outcome was the establishment of an African chapter of Women in Aerospace, to be known as Women in Aerospace Africa. This new entity will play an important role, inter alia, in profiling women as role models for girls and young professional women considering aerospace careers in Africa. 5. Concluding remarks
4. The impact of IAC 2011 in Africa It will take several years to assess the full impact of the IAC 2011 in Africa. One indicator of impact is the number of African members of the IAF. In 2008 the only South African member of the IAF was one company. By 2011, the number of South African IAF members had increased to two companies, one government agency and two universities. As of November 2011, the number of African members of the IAF stood at 13, made up as follows: Algeria (1), Libya (2), Morocco (1), Nigeria (2), South Africa (5) and Tunisia (2). For the most part, these member organisations are public sector institutions, but as a domestic space industry begins to develop on the continent, we may expect to see more African private sector entities joining the IAF. At the 60th IAC in Daejeon, Korea, in 2009, the IAF decided to establish IAF Regional Groups aimed at improving the exchange of information on space activities and facilitating the development of regional cooperation in space ventures and space applications. Two regional groups were subsequently established, one for Asia and the Pacific and another for Latin America and the Caribbean.
It took 62 years for the International Astronautical Congress to be held on African soil. This was not because the international space community neglected Africa (indeed, their many activities on the continent prove otherwise!), but rather because it took that long for a sufficient critical mass of space activity to develop on the continent. During the week of the IAC, many expressed the wish that it should not take another 62 years for the Congress to return to Africa. Indeed, delegates at the Congress heard the invitation of the President of Tunisia to hold the next African IAC in that country. There is no doubt that IAC 2011 marked a major milestone in the development of the African space arena and that the benefits of IAC 2011 will be felt by African countries in the coming years. Developments such as the establishment of the IAF African Regional Group, the establishment of an African Round of the Manfred Lachs Moot Court and the establishment of Women in Aerospace Africa all provide platforms to build on the success of IAC 2011 to develop the African space arena to the next level. The IAC also provided African industry with a glimpse of the space visions of several African countries that may help the industry to position itself to
58
P. Martinez / Space Policy 28 (2012) 54e58
meet Africa’s needs for space technology. Further, it provided African industry with an opportunity to showcase its capabilities to the African and global space community. The African industry will play a critical role in the development of the continent’s space capabilities. In this regard the IAF African Regional Group may be able to provide a valuable forum for companies already engaged in (or aspiring to be engaged in) the provision of space systems for Africa. The IAC 2011 may also have marked a watershed in the way that the IAF engages with the global space community. As the number and diversity of space actors increases, so too will the geographical and developmental diversity of the IAF’s membership increase. As a global entity the IAF plays an important role in promoting international cooperation in the exploration and peaceful uses of outer space. One of the key instruments of playing this role is the IAC. Hosting the IAC in a more diverse number of locations can help to build international understanding and cooperation. However, as we saw earlier in this paper, the IAC has been growing in size and complexity over the past decade. If this trend continues, it will pose a challenge to other African countries that might be interested to host the congress in future. The same holds true for other developing regions of the world, where hosting a full IAC would be beyond the means of many countries. Perhaps the recently established IAF Regional Groups could consider organising regional meetings that are still global in nature, but with a particular thematic focus of interest to the region, rather than the full spectrum of topics covered at an IAC. This would make accessible many of the benefits of hosting an IAC, but reduce the
burden to the host country. The newly established IAF African Regional Group provides a forum to discuss such issues and to provide consolidated inputs from Africa to help the IAF shape its global agenda.
Acknowledgements I acknowledge the helpful guidance and advice of many colleagues during the preparations for hosting IAC 2011. Thanks are due, in particular, to Adigun Ade Abiodun, Gérard Brachet, Sias Mostert, Philippe Willekens and James Zimmerman for their contributions to maximize the impact of IAC 2011 in Africa. Thanks are also due to the following entities for their efforts during 2009e2011 to support the build up to IAC 2011: COSPAR, DLR, Eurisy, European Space Agency, European Space Policy Institute, International Academy of Astronautics, International Astronautical Federation, International Institute of Space Law, Space Generation Advisory Council, UNESCO and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs. Last, but not least, I thank Nomfuneko Majaja, chair of the South African IAC 2011 Preparatory Committee and all who served on that committee to ensure the success of IAC 2011.
Reference [1] Mostert S. The African resource management (ARM) satellite constellation. African Skies 2008;vol. 12:53. Available on the NASA ADS at: http://adsabs. harvard.edu/full/2008AfrSk.12.53M.
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Space Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/spacepol
Report
Africa’s first International Astronautical Congress: Highlights of IAC 2011 Peter Martinez South African Astronomical Observatory, PO Box 9, Observatory 7935, South Africa
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history: Received 8 November 2011 Accepted 9 November 2011 Available online 16 January 2012
The 62nd International Astronautical Congress (IAC), held in Cape Town from 3 to 7 October 2011, was a significant milestone in the development of the African space arena. The recent emergence of a number of African countries as space actors provided fertile ground for engagement with the global space community through the medium of an IAC. A large number of space actors, in Africa and globally, coordinated their activities during the triennium 2009e2011 to build up to this historic first IAC in Africa. This paper discusses the main highlights of the congress and its immediate and potential long-term impact on the development of the African space arena. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is a fixture on the international space calendar. The Congress, which is organised by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) in partnership with the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), provides a platform for exchange of information, networking and cooperation opportunities and serves as a showcase for industry. The participants at the IAC are drawn from national space agencies, government departments, private companies and many academic and research institutions. The IAC is a platform that is sometimes used by leading public and private sector actors to make announcements or to engage in high-visibility actions. Hence it has become a means by which emerging space nations can showcase their capabilities and present their plans to the rest of the global space community. The first IAC was held in 1950 in Paris, when 18 representatives from the astronautical societies of seven countries met at the headquarters of the Aéro-Club de France and laid the foundation for the establishment of the IAF in September 1951. Since then the congress has grown steadily in size in terms of both the number of participants and the number of topics covered. During the course of its 61-year history, from 1950 to 2010, the congress was held in Europe 45 times, six times in North America, six times in Asia, once in the Middle East, twice in South America and once in Australia, but never in Africa (Fig. 1). Since the early 2000s, the space arena in Africa has evolved considerably, with the emergence of a number of national space programmes, and dedicated national space agencies in Algeria,
E-mail address: [email protected]. 0265-9646/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.spacepol.2011.12.004
Nigeria and South Africa. Together with Kenya, these countries are working towards developing an African Resource Management (ARM) satellite constellation [1]. The basic idea behind the ARM constellation is that each country contributes one satellite to the constellation but can access data from the other satellites. Other countries in Africa are expanding their capabilities to use spacederived geospatial data, and are beginning to consider coordinating their national space activities, which is usually a precursor to establishing a more structured mechanism, such as a space commission or a space agency. In the light of these developments, there was a growing sense in the space community in the late 2000s that the time was right to have an IAC in Africa. The question was, where in Africa? In terms of IAF rules, only an IAF member organisation may bid to host an IAC, which meant that the possible options were very limited. In the first months of 2008 a group of South African space entities rallied behind the then only South African IAF member entity, Sunspace, to submit a bid to host the IAC in Cape Town in 2011. The South African bid was presented at the 59th IAC in Glasgow in 2008. The Federation approved the bid, setting the stage for the first IAC on the African continent. At that same congress, the South African National Research Foundation was admitted as the second South African member of the IAF, paving the way for that government agency to lead the organisation of the congress e a critical element in the ultimate success of IAC 2011. 2. Maximising benefit for Africa e the build up to IAC 2011 From the outset the IAC 2011 was seen as an African congress, not just a South African event. This pan-African emphasis was promoted on two levels - by the international space entities working in Africa, and by the African space entities themselves.
P. Martinez / Space Policy 28 (2012) 54e58
55
Fig. 1. Locations of previous International Astronautical Congresses from 1950 to 2010. The encircled dots indicate locations where the congress was held more than once.
At the global level a large number of international space entities decided to coordinate and align their activities in Africa during the triennium 2009e2011 to build up to IAC 2011. The activities are too numerous to list individually, but a list of the entities involved in this coordinated effort is instructive. They included: COSPAR, DLR, Eurisy, European Space Agency, European Space Policy Institute, International Academy of Astronautics, International Astronautical Federation, International Institute of Space Law, Space Generation Advisory Council, UNESCO and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs. At the African level the main forum for intra-African cooperation is the African Leadership Conference on Space Science and Technology for Sustainable Development, generally referred to in the space community as “the ALC.” The ALC conferences take place every two years and bring together all the leading public and private sector space actors in Africa. The 3rd ALC meeting took place in Algiers from 7 to 9 December 2009. At that meeting there was a session dedicated to planning Africa’s participation in the IAC 2011. One key outcome of the session was the proposal to dedicate the first day of IAC 2011 to space in Africa as a high-level “Africa Space Day” (see below). The ALC Steering Committee took the opportunity to meet regularly on the margins of the COPUOS sessions in Vienna during 2010 and 2011 to develop further plans for African participation in the IAC 2011. It was agreed that the fourth ALC, scheduled to take place in 2011, would be timed to occur the week preceding the IAC 2011 and that it would serve as the final African regional preparatory meeting for IAC 2011. The fourth ALC took place in Mombasa from 26 to 28 September 2011 with the theme “Developing a Shared Vision for Space in Africa”. The main outcome of this conference was the ‘Mombasa
Declaration on Space and Africa’s Development’, which provides the basis for a shared vision for space in Africa and an agenda for the ALC for the coming years.1 The Mombasa Declaration served as an input to the deliberations in the Africa Space Day at IAC 2011. The ALC also discussed the relationship between the ALC and the IAF in Africa. We will discuss this relationship in Section 4 of this paper. 3. Highlights of IAC 2011 The IAC 2011 took place in Cape Town from 3 to 7 October 2011. The Congress was attended by 2968 participants from 75 countries and it is worth noting that 550 participants from 13 African countries (making up 18% of all participants) attended. This represents, by far, the largest number of African participants at any IAC to date. This did not happen just because the IAC 2011 took place in Africa, but because of a number of interventions that made it possible for more Africans to attend the IAC. The first of these was the decision by the IAF Bureau, ratified by the General Assembly in 2010, to offer a 50% reduction in the registration fee for African delegates in all registration categories. The second intervention was the establishment of a Developing Countries Support Fund to assist delegates from developing countries to attend IAC 2011. Two-thirds of this fund was earmarked to support African delegates. One of the most pressing needs in the African space arena is human capital development. Hence a particular emphasis was placed on making the IAC 2011 as accessible as possible for students
1 The ALC 2011 conference and the Mombasa Declaration are both discussed separately elsewhere in this issue.
56
P. Martinez / Space Policy 28 (2012) 54e58
Table 1 Attendance and presentation figures for the International Astronautical Congresses for 2001e2011. Year
Venue
Abstracts submitted
Papers accepted
% declined
Technical sessions
Total attendance
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Toulouse Houston Bremen Vancouver Fukuoka Valencia Hyderabad Glasgow Daejeon Prague Cape Town
1250 1574 1390 1429 1520 1838 1649 2427 2095 2442 2482
907 1118 1150 1054 929 1437 1159 1761 1634 1712 1743
27% 29% 17% 26% 39% 22% 30% 27% 22% 30% 30%
114 118 127 153 143 169 141 152 157 164 160
1890 1721 2221 2161 1819 2166 1953 3131 3061 3407 2968
and young professionals from Africa. In terms of the age distribution of the delegates who attended, 644 delegates were students and young professionals under the age of 35. Sixteen percent of these students and young professionals were from Africa. The African students and young professionals made up 19% of all African participants. This compared favourably with the 22% ratio of nonAfrican students and young professionals to other non-African participants. In terms of the technical programme, a total of 2482 poster and oral paper abstracts were received for IAC 2011, indicating a high level of interest in this first African IAC. Of these, only 1743 oral and poster papers could be accommodated in one of the 160 technical sessions (corresponding to an average of 18 parallel sessions each day). These figures show that IAC 2011 continued the upward trend in delegate participation and in the number of presentations (Table 1). The industrial exhibition was also well supported, with 64 exhibitors from 21 countries. In the next few subsections we focus on those aspects of the congress with particular relevance to Africa. 3.1. Africa Space Day The concept of an “Africa Space Day” found expression in a fourday period starting on 30 September and culminating on 3 October. The “Africa Space Day” is described in more detail below. The first event linked to IAC 2011 was the 21st UN/IAF Workshop on Space for Human and Environmental Security (30 Septembere2 October). The sessions in this workshop touched on Space and Climate Change, Space for Food and Water, Space for Health, and Space for Environment, all topics of direct relevance to Africa. The workshop closed with a roundtable, held jointly with the International Academy of Astronautics’ Academy Day on Sunday 2 October, which produced a series of recommendations for the UN and the IAF to continue working towards developing and implementing further activities and pilot projects that would promote the use of satellite data and information products for human and environmental security. This was the first time that the UN/IAF workshop was linked to the IAA Academy Day and it could be an interesting interaction to develop in future IACs. On Monday 3 October, the African Space Leaders Round Table placed a number of African space leaders on centre stage to share their visions for the development of space in Africa. This event is described in more detail below. The official opening of the congress provided an opportunity for South African political leaders to demonstrate their political commitment to space activities in the country and the region. Speeches were given by the Minister of Science and Technology, the Deputy Minister of Communications and the Minister of Trade and Industry (who has the over-arching responsibility for space activities in South Africa). All the speeches underscored the importance
that the present South African government attaches to the societal benefits to be derived from space science and technology. It is instructive to quote here some of the remarks from the speech of Naledi Pandor, Minister of Science and Technology, which demonstrate the South African approach to cooperative governance of space activities: South Africa has a long history in space science and technology. However, it was only last year that the South African government finally placed all the necessary institutes, strategies and policies together e the Department of Science and Technology launched both the South African Space National Agency and released a Space Strategy, the Department of Trade and Industry appointed the members of the Space Council and focussed on the development of space technology in its Industrial Policy Action Plan, and the Department of Communications committed to expanding our broadband communications through upgrading infrastructure, tied into satellite communications in one way or another. So it is with national pride that I stand here today, in front of this international audience, and say that South Africa has a space programme that is not only about the pursuit of frontier research and knowledge as a goal in itself, but is also about developing all aspects of the space industry here at the tip of Africa for the benefit of the whole of Africa. 3.2. African Space Leaders Round Table On the afternoon of 3 October, African space leaders were given the opportunity to present their visions for the development of space in Africa on a national and continental level. The panel was moderated by Johann-Dietrich Woerner, Chairman of the DLR and Dr Adigun Ade Abiodun, Founder of the African Space Foundation. The panel comprised Seidu Mohamed (Nigeria), Sandile Malinga (South Africa), Harry Kaane (Kenya), Tahar Iftene (Algeria) and Moustafa Masmoudi (Tunisia). Two young African space professionals, Olayinka Fagbemiro and Etim Offiong were also given a brief opportunity to share their perspectives. The session started with a documentary prepared by the DLR on the benefits of space for Africa. The audience also viewed a recorded message from the President of Tunisia in which he expressed his best wishes for the success of the first IAC on African soil and invited the congress to come to Tunisia. The two moderators posed three questions to the panellists: - What are their countries’ visions for space activities nationally and for Africa’s participation in space activities globally? - What are the current national contributions towards realising the visions articulated above? - What are some of the practical challenges confronting the implementation of space activities in their countries and in the region? The entire 1 h plenary discussion is accessible online,2 so here we will only summarise some of the golden threads that emerged from this discussion. Not surprisingly, all the panellists gave visions that emphasized the societal benefits of space technology for Africa’s development in areas such as food security, disaster management, tele-education and tele-health. Common challenges that were identified were political support, human capital development and the need for knowledge and know-how transfer to allow African countries to develop their own space-related competencies. Several panellists pointed to the need to intensify intra-African cooperation and cited
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v¼zcWzSv3M4IQ.
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the example of the African Resource Management constellation, to which the panellists from Algeria, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa all reiterated their commitment. Astronomy and the African bid to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project were also cited as fertile ground for intensifying intra-African cooperation. The issue of how best to coordinate intra-African cooperation was also discussed. Several panellists expressed the view that African countries should acquire experience in bilateral and multilateral cooperation in space as a first step (with ARM being cited as a practical example) before considering other more structured platforms of regional cooperation, such as a continental space agency. In terms of cooperation with the global space community, the panel acknowledged that Africa has much to learn from more advanced spacefaring nations and that African countries would continue to seek out mutually beneficial cooperation with more advanced space partners. It was recognised that, while not all partners have equal capability, such cooperation should preferably not be too asymmetric and should be pursued with a philosophy of “what can we do together?” rather than “what can we do for you?”. 3.3. Other associated events In addition to the events described above, there was a number of other associated events that occurred in parallel with the IAC 2011, with some particular African component. C
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The 3rd International Meeting of Members of Parliaments took place on 2 October 2011. The event was organised by the IAF and hosted by the South African Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry. Fifteen South African parliamentarians from several portfolio committees attended the event, along with nine other parliamentarians from the Czech Republic, Germany, Kenya, Nigeria, Thailand and Tunisia. The theme of the meeting was “The use of space technology for managing food, water and energy resources”. The Manfred Lachs Moot Court Competition took place concurrently with the IAC 2011. For the first time, teams from three African countries, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, competed in an unofficial “African round,” with a view to establishing a fully-fledged, official African round of the Moot Court in future years. This unofficial “African round” was won by Nigeria, with South Africa in second place and Kenya third.
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During the IAC 2011, the IAF African Regional Group was established under the co-chairmanship of Peter Martinez from South Africa and Mustapha Masmoudi from Tunisia. The Terms of Reference of the Group are defined in such a manner as to be complementary with the ALC and to avoid overlap or duplication with the mandate and activities of the ALC. The IAF African Regional Group is open, on a voluntary basis, to all members of the IAF based on the African continent. The aims of the IAF African Regional Group are as follows: C
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To encourage IAF member entities in the region to share their experiences and to deepen mutual understanding with a view to strengthening regional cooperation in space activities; To encourage more African space actors to join the IAF and to participate in its activities in Africa and globally; To articulate regional interests in space science and technology within the IAF framework, discuss membership matters and support African proposals on potential locations for hosting future International Astronautical Congresses in Africa; To encourage and promote active African participation in IAF structures, such as committees, and to nominate and support African candidates for positions in the IAF open to election; To act as a point of contact between the IAF and the ALC to ensure that the activities of the IAF and its partner organizations, the IAA and IISL, on the African continent are complementary to and coordinated with the ALC.
In addition to the establishment of the IAF African Regional Group, there were a number of other outcomes of IAC 2011. Following the successful competition of three African countries in a separate “African round” in parallel with the Moot Court competition at IAC 2011, the IISL has decided to establish an African region in this competition such that, starting in 2012, there will, for the first time, be an African round of the Manfred Lachs Moot Court Competition. This will help to build space law capacity in Africa, as it has done elsewhere. Another outcome was the establishment of an African chapter of Women in Aerospace, to be known as Women in Aerospace Africa. This new entity will play an important role, inter alia, in profiling women as role models for girls and young professional women considering aerospace careers in Africa. 5. Concluding remarks
4. The impact of IAC 2011 in Africa It will take several years to assess the full impact of the IAC 2011 in Africa. One indicator of impact is the number of African members of the IAF. In 2008 the only South African member of the IAF was one company. By 2011, the number of South African IAF members had increased to two companies, one government agency and two universities. As of November 2011, the number of African members of the IAF stood at 13, made up as follows: Algeria (1), Libya (2), Morocco (1), Nigeria (2), South Africa (5) and Tunisia (2). For the most part, these member organisations are public sector institutions, but as a domestic space industry begins to develop on the continent, we may expect to see more African private sector entities joining the IAF. At the 60th IAC in Daejeon, Korea, in 2009, the IAF decided to establish IAF Regional Groups aimed at improving the exchange of information on space activities and facilitating the development of regional cooperation in space ventures and space applications. Two regional groups were subsequently established, one for Asia and the Pacific and another for Latin America and the Caribbean.
It took 62 years for the International Astronautical Congress to be held on African soil. This was not because the international space community neglected Africa (indeed, their many activities on the continent prove otherwise!), but rather because it took that long for a sufficient critical mass of space activity to develop on the continent. During the week of the IAC, many expressed the wish that it should not take another 62 years for the Congress to return to Africa. Indeed, delegates at the Congress heard the invitation of the President of Tunisia to hold the next African IAC in that country. There is no doubt that IAC 2011 marked a major milestone in the development of the African space arena and that the benefits of IAC 2011 will be felt by African countries in the coming years. Developments such as the establishment of the IAF African Regional Group, the establishment of an African Round of the Manfred Lachs Moot Court and the establishment of Women in Aerospace Africa all provide platforms to build on the success of IAC 2011 to develop the African space arena to the next level. The IAC also provided African industry with a glimpse of the space visions of several African countries that may help the industry to position itself to
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meet Africa’s needs for space technology. Further, it provided African industry with an opportunity to showcase its capabilities to the African and global space community. The African industry will play a critical role in the development of the continent’s space capabilities. In this regard the IAF African Regional Group may be able to provide a valuable forum for companies already engaged in (or aspiring to be engaged in) the provision of space systems for Africa. The IAC 2011 may also have marked a watershed in the way that the IAF engages with the global space community. As the number and diversity of space actors increases, so too will the geographical and developmental diversity of the IAF’s membership increase. As a global entity the IAF plays an important role in promoting international cooperation in the exploration and peaceful uses of outer space. One of the key instruments of playing this role is the IAC. Hosting the IAC in a more diverse number of locations can help to build international understanding and cooperation. However, as we saw earlier in this paper, the IAC has been growing in size and complexity over the past decade. If this trend continues, it will pose a challenge to other African countries that might be interested to host the congress in future. The same holds true for other developing regions of the world, where hosting a full IAC would be beyond the means of many countries. Perhaps the recently established IAF Regional Groups could consider organising regional meetings that are still global in nature, but with a particular thematic focus of interest to the region, rather than the full spectrum of topics covered at an IAC. This would make accessible many of the benefits of hosting an IAC, but reduce the
burden to the host country. The newly established IAF African Regional Group provides a forum to discuss such issues and to provide consolidated inputs from Africa to help the IAF shape its global agenda.
Acknowledgements I acknowledge the helpful guidance and advice of many colleagues during the preparations for hosting IAC 2011. Thanks are due, in particular, to Adigun Ade Abiodun, Gérard Brachet, Sias Mostert, Philippe Willekens and James Zimmerman for their contributions to maximize the impact of IAC 2011 in Africa. Thanks are also due to the following entities for their efforts during 2009e2011 to support the build up to IAC 2011: COSPAR, DLR, Eurisy, European Space Agency, European Space Policy Institute, International Academy of Astronautics, International Astronautical Federation, International Institute of Space Law, Space Generation Advisory Council, UNESCO and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs. Last, but not least, I thank Nomfuneko Majaja, chair of the South African IAC 2011 Preparatory Committee and all who served on that committee to ensure the success of IAC 2011.
Reference [1] Mostert S. The African resource management (ARM) satellite constellation. African Skies 2008;vol. 12:53. Available on the NASA ADS at: http://adsabs. harvard.edu/full/2008AfrSk.12.53M.