On October 13th, Jānis Paiders, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Science for Human Capital, Science, and Innovation Development, addressed ministers and members of parliament at the 14th International Astronautical Federation’s congress, held in Milan. His statement was part of Session 3, which focused on climate change, titled “Space Solutions: The Key at All Levels - National, Regional, Urban, and Rural”.
Latvia’s was initiated to participate through an invitation from Italy’s Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy, Mr. Adolfo Urso, and the President of the Italian Space Agency, Mr. Teodoro Valente, to discuss critical space-related issues. In his speech, Mr. Paiders emphasized that climate change is indeed the greatest global threat we face in the 21st century, and Earth observation technologies and satellites play a crucial role in monitoring and understanding climate change.
As both a member of the European Union and an associate member of the European Space Agency (ESA), Latvia is actively engaged in utilizing space solutions both nationally and internationally, in both urban and rural settings. Like other EU nations, Latvia is
developing a National Adaptation Programme aimed at achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Although Latvia’s current strategy does not specifically focus on space solutions, it places strong emphasis on research and development activities that support climate resilience.
One of the main challenges, according to Mr. Paiders, is creating synergies between space solutions and climate action initiatives.
He stated, “We often face hurdles such as a lack of political sensitivity, limited
technical knowledge, funding constraints, and insufficient communication between ministries. However, we are actively working on implementing space solutions.”
Mr. Paiders acknowledged that progress takes time, awareness, and learning to fully integrate Earth observation services across various sectors. As an ESA associate member since 2020, Latvia is steadily building expertise in applying space solutions to address social, economic, and environmental challenges. Latvia’s partnership with ESA provides critical research and development support and deepens the country’s understanding of climate science.
He further noted that Latvia’s current mission is to foster cooperation within the governmental sector to ensure the broad impact of space technologies on national strategies.
“Satellite data is a valuable resource for informed decision-making and
digitalization, while technology transfer from space enables innovation on Earth,” Mr. Paiders explained.
In his remarks, Paiders highlighted Latvia’s rich heritage and scientific culture, which has facilitated nearly ten years of successful cooperation with ESA. This partnership has driven climate-related innovations using satellite data. Some key examples include:
Mr. Paiders emphasized the need for space policies that align with Latvia’s climate objectives and integrate space activities with the actual needs of ministries and state services. He added, “Developing space solutions requires time, patience, and continuous learning. To fully harness the growing amount of Earth observation data and translate it into actionable products and services, we must effectively address the space skills gap.”
In conclusion, Mr. Paiders invited attendees to participate in the “Big Data from Space” conference, which will be held in Riga from September 29th to October 3rd next year. He noted that the event promises to be the largest downstream conference ever held in the Baltics, with climate change as one of its core topics.