About the organization and its focus on work in Ukraine
Copenhagen Center for Mapping Human Hazards
(Copenhagen Center for Human Hazard Mapping – CHM 1 ) was registered as a public organization in Denmark in 2023. The establishment of the organization was preceded by the successful implementation of a project to clean up a World War II minefield on the Skallingen peninsula in 2005-2012. This is demining
was the first in the mine action sector to use remote sensing, and 15 years later it is still considered one of the most innovative projects in the world.
CHM’s vision: A world where governments and humanitarian organizations can proactively use data to map, predict and reduce the impact of hazards such as natural disasters, conflict-related hazards and climate change.
CHM defines its mission as follows: We are a non-profit
an organization that creates a decision support system for man-made threats, disasters and climate change, covering the entire response chain, from mapping, mitigation, adaptation, operational analysis to documentation of consequences.
On the official website, CHM notes the ways of implementing its mission:
We do this by using, adapting and combining the known
technologies of remote sensing, image analysis, text
learning, artificial intelligence and data management for
mapping, forecasting and prevention of man-made threats.
Initially, the system will be developed with an emphasis on mine action.
It will be tested and implemented in Ukraine in close cooperation with the Ukrainian government and the international mine action community.
General sectoral mapping will be based on data from open sources. We will provide specialized mapping and analysis to government agencies and non-profit humanitarian organizations.
Thus, representatives of the public organization CHM have
expertise in mine countermeasures (after the end of active hostilities)
and in hazard mapping; the organization was created with a focus on
work in Ukraine.
- About the first steps of interaction of KPI named after Igor Sikorskyi and CHM
2.1 About the organization of CHM in KPI named after Ihor Sikorskyi became known after Yulia Chernetska’s internship at the University of Southeastern Norway.
On June 25, 2024, the NN IEE sent an email to the representative of CHM, Mr. Bo Benemann Bischoff, with a proposal to cooperate in the direction of humanitarian demining.
2.2 The video meeting for getting to know each other took place on June 28, 2024 with the participation of:
representatives of CHM: Bo Benemann Bischoff – Military Industrial Office of the Danish Armed Forces; created and headed the Danish demining group and participated in the demining of Skallingen; currently working on risk assessment;
Martin Jebens is a visionary in the field of humanitarian innovation, specializing in disaster risk management and mine action; successfully headed the projects of the International Committee of the Red Cross and others. representatives of KPI named after Igor Sikorskyi: Oksana Vovk – director of NN IEE; Kostyantyn Efremov is the director of the World Data Center for Geoinformatics
and sustainable development; Oleksiy Kudryavtsev – Director of the Educational and Scientific Center for Innovative Technologies in the Field of Humanitarian Demining; Yuliya Chernetska is the deputy director of NN IEE for international cooperation.
2.3 In an e-mail dated 03.07.2024, Mr. Bo Benemann Bischoff reports on the results of his meetings with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
affairs of Denmark. According to him, the FRESTA (Peacemaking and Stabilization Efforts) office is very interested in the potential of “stabilization” in Ukraine, as well as in the issues of migration and climate change in the world, as this is a significant threat multiplier. The FRESTA team also promises to help in communications with other units of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In August, CHM is scheduled to meet with the Danish Space Agency under the Ministry of Education and Research, which may allocate funds for
of the project. “Overall, this is a good and promising process that gives us hope that we will receive funding in the fall of 2024.” – says Mr. Bo Benemann Bischoff.
2.4 An additional video meeting is scheduled for discussion
next steps to attract funds for the implementation of joint projects.
1 Copenhagen Hazard Mapping. URL: https://chm.ngo/about-us/