The UK Space Agency has announced £3.4 million of new funding for 10 space-related projects.

UK space projects for sustainability get government cash boostThey involve UK academics using space to tackle global development problems, from the spread of malaria to human trafficking and forced labour.

Among the ten projects are ones that will help protect wildlife habitats in Kenya and will improve resilience to flooding in Bangladesh.

“These 10 new projects have the potential to provide solutions to the world’s biggest development problems by using the latest and most high-tech space technologies such as satellites, and help improve millions of people’s lives in developing countries,” said Science Minister Amanda Solloway.

For example, there is the Sat4Wildlife project in Kenya. This is led by Fauna & Flora International and WILDLABS. Because Kenya has lost more than 65% of its wildlife in the last 40 years, the project will use satellite-enabled technologies to help conservationists and technology experts to help halt the loss of Kenya’s biodiversity. This will, in turn, conserve local livelihoods.

“We are very excited that the UK Space Agency is supporting our vision to create Sat4Wildlife: an ecosystem of geospatial intelligence tools for the conservation of wildlife and habitats in Kenya,” said Heather Garrick, Sustainable Development Lead, Satellite Applications Catapult at the Harwell Space Cluster.  “This is an amazing milestone for the work that Fauna & Flora International, WILDLABS, The Zoological Society of London, Arribada Initiative, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, and the Satellite Applications Catapult have been doing collectively in this area over the past few years.”

“With the UK Space Agency’s support, we will strongly embed space technology within conservation efforts, starting in Kenya and eventually on a global scale. This project will not only harness and scale the latest space and conservation technologies, but it will also unlock the international partnerships necessary to safeguard our world’s biodiversity, increase our climate change resilience and advance the Global Goals for Sustainable Development.”

You can read more about the other projects in more detail here.

The £3.4 million funding comes from the UK Space Agency’s International Partnership Programme (IPP), which aims to use UK space expertise in satellite technology and data services to solve real-world problems. In the words of the government, the projects “aim to help developing countries while building effective partnerships that can lead to growth opportunities for the UK space sector”.

The cash announcement comes as a new report is published, evaluating the impact of existing IPP projects. You can read the report online.

The report details such projects as satellite training being delivered to 300 health workers across Nigeria, saving an estimated 30 lives. A marine pollution application has also prevented two oil spills from reaching the coastline, saving an estimated £3 million in clean-up costs and reducing the impact on the environment.