Scientists and technical experts from all over the world are gathering this week in Vienna, Austria, for a meeting convened by the United Nations partner organisation working to establish a verification regime to monitor global compliance with the comprehensive ban on nuclear testing.
The Science and Technology 2017 Conference, which runs through till 30th June in the Austrian capital, is the sixth in a series of meetings aimed at strengthening the relationship between the scientific community and authorities for compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, CTBT. The conference was convened by the Preparatory Commission for the Treaty, widely known as the CTBTO.
The conference seeks to enlarge the engagement of the scientific and technological community in test-ban monitoring. In addition to monitoring such tests, scientists apply CTBTO data for other useful purposes, such as the observation of volcanoes and icebergs. It is also used to study marine mammals, and forecast the weather months in advance, to improve the mitigation of disasters.
The advances of these technologies also help towards the achievement of the UN 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, which seek to eliminate poverty and hunger, as well as put in practice measures to combat climate change.
Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1996, the CTBT is a multilateral treaty that bans all nuclear explosions, by everyone, everywhere, on the Earth's surface, in the atmosphere, underwater and underground. It makes it very difficult for countries to develop nuclear bombs for the first time, or for countries that already have them, to make more powerful bombs.
The CTBT has not yet become law. A total of 183 nations have signed on, of which, 166 have ratified it, including three nuclear weapons states, France, Russia and the United Kingdom. But 44 others who have these specific technologies must sign and ratify the treaty in order for it to come into force.
Since the treaty is not yet in force, the CTBTO is officially called the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation. In line with its main task to make preparations for effective implementation of the Treaty, the CTBTO is establishing and provisionally operating the 337-facility International Monitoring System to monitor the planet for signs of nuclear explosions, and including its International Data Centre and Global Communications Infrastructure.

Source: WAM