UN Space Office Must Quadruple Staff Level to Meet Demands Placed On It, UNOOSA Chief Says
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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - UNOOSA has been the primary custodian of the peaceful use of outer space since the adoption of the Outer Space Treaty in 1967.
The staff of the United Nations Office on Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) needs to quadruple within the next year or two to meet the expectations and challenges imposed upon it, the organization's new director Aarti Holla Maini told a meeting at The Atlantic Council.
"For me, this office has to be 100 people within one to two years because it's simply not sustainable [at current manpower levels]," Holla-Maini said on Friday. "We must put our money where our mouth is."
UNOOSA is based in Vienna, Austria, and has a permanent staff of only 25 with another 10 seconded on a temporary basis from other UN agencies, Holla-Maini said.
"The vision is [that] this office very much needs to grow if we are going to deliver on the expectations of the member states and on the expectations of the secretary-general himself. ...We have the brains but we need the resources as well," she said.
