As the Obama administration begins a second term, USAID's Alex Dehgan describes how the agency will build on its science-for-development agenda.

Looking through a 'human rights lens' can improve S&T programmes, while S&T can help strengthen human rights work, says lawyer Jessica Wyndham.

Shared hosting of the Square Kilometre Array project with Australasia will not diminish the benefits for Africa, says Linda Nordling.

Pakistan urgently needs to refine its crop yield forecasting and estimation system to improve food production, says Ibrar ul Hassan Akhtar.

Improving access to information technology can help communities assess their own vulnerability and boost local planning, says John Waugh.

Africa's ambitions in space science may detract from other more development-friendly areas of science, but its strong political backing sets a good example, writes Linda Nordling.

Combining satellite data with mobile phones offers cheap and effective tools for managing fires, says South African scientist Philip Frost.

Disaster management needs constellations of satellites with multispectral sensors, says Indian space researcher, Ranganath Navalgund.

Kenyan MP and remote sensing expert, Wilbur Ottichilo, argues the time is ripe for using satellites to spot developing African droughts.

Volcano expert Geoff Wadge explains how the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters helped manage a volcanic eruption in Montserrat.

Africa must make it easy to access and share geo-spatial information, says head of South Africa's mapping organisation, Derek Clarke.

An editorial in Nature welcomes plans for a globally-integrated system of Earth observation, but warns it must support the basic scientific activity of data collection.