ESA Earth Observation educational tools contribution to the creation of awareness for World Heritage site conservation

EO from space is a key tool to assess the effects of anthropogenic activities to our planet (e.g. deforestation, urban growth). It can provide measurements supporting the process of sustainable development, or observations allowing the detection of changes in the surface of our planet related to climate change. UNESCO and ESA have launched a call to all national and international space agencies, space research institutions and universities to make use of space technologies in order to assist developing countries in the monitoring of the World Heritage sites. ESA and UNESCO are also covering associated educational aspects by using all the results of the projects under implementation as educational material to support UNESCO´s `UN decade for education and sustainable development´, within a common and joint strategy of education, targeting schools, universities and young professionals. This includes creating new tools for the creation of awareness and savoir-faire in the use of space technology for the conservation and preservation of the environment and for a sustainable development. Material derived from satellite images provided to decision makers is also being used to support teachers and school children from the surroundings of the World Heritage sites where the space partners of the `Open Initiative´ are working. In the frame of its educational activities for Earth Observation, ESA is creating particular modules oriented to UNESCO sites. All this material comes out of the different activities being implemented by partners of the ESA - UNESCO `Open Initiative´, in complete integration with the EDUSPACE programme of ESA, a platform and web-based tool for Earth Observation Education, in eight different languages, available for free to worldwide secondary schools teachers and students, aiming to provide schools with tools for teaching and learning. It offers an entry point to Earth Observation satellite data and software applications for training. The website is - - host to a multitude of didactical material inclusive high-resolution local and lower resolution global remote sensing satellite data in order to show students how to study the planet as a whole from space as well as the possibility of zooming into specific areas and natural features to investigate their behaviour over space and time. An image processing tool called LEOWorks (Learning Earth Observation), including a GIS, soon in open source, is made available for data analysis and image interpretation. New dedicated content, like case studies and projects dedicated to the monitoring of UNESCO archaeological sites and to sustainable development are presently under development.