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Project focused on identification and monitoring of abandoned land succesfully concluded

The REAL project aimed to explore potential of the state-of-the-art remote sensing techniques for monitoring of land abandonment in the Czech Republic.

The process of land abandonment has become widespread in the last decades in all CEEC reflecting substantial political and economical changes in this period. Nowadays, it represent a serious issue and if not solved in time, the abandonment of productive agricultural lands would further grow. These lands would then gradually degrade together with their cultural landscape, soils will lose their productive potential, and jobs would be lost with consequent further migrations and further land degradation in a vicious circle that would deepen the social and economic problems of these regions. Besides the major social and economical impact, the process of land abandonment can have also serious ecological consequences.

Sustainable use and management of abandoned areas and prevention of abandonement land area enlargement is one of the policy targets both on European [e.g. Agro-Environmental Regulation, Council Regulation (EEC) No 2078/92, Rural Development Regulation, Council Regulation (EEC) No 1257/99] and national level (e.g. Biodiversity Strategy of Czech Republic [MŽP,2005], Post-accession Rural Policy 2004 – 2013 [MZE, 2005]). Nevertheless, the assessment of the policy strategies requires clear measures based on the figures on status and evolution of abandoned land area. Unfortunately, there are currently no actual statistical data available on the extent of land abandonment so only rough estimates are used (e.g. total area of abandoned land about 300 000 ha, that is 7 percent of the total agricultural area (Ministry of Agriculture, 2001).

The project focused to develop and test new methodology for identification and monitoring of abandoned land via the state-of-the-art remote sensing techniques. Two pilot areas were used for demonstration of developed mapping approach – object-based classification combining three basic strategies for abandoned land monitoring: spectral (hyperspectral), textural and temporal (both long term and seasonal).

The project was done under the support of the EUPRO programme of Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic in the frame of the ERA-STAR GMES Pilot Project “Brownfields” led by INDRA, Spain.

Project presentation

Source GISAT

GMES will give Europe a unique global environmental information system that European citizens can be proud of.


“GMES will give Europe a unique global environmental information system that European citizens can be proud of. This programme is already regarded by other countries as exemplary in terms of utilising existing operational Earth observation systems to provide critical information for decision-makers and ordinary citizens,” says Volker Liebig, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes.

ESA, which is responsible for the overall management and coordination of the activities associated with the GMES space component in Europe, has now pushed ahead with the satellites in the Sentinel series by entering Phase 2 of their development. This initially comprises the manufacture of three satellites (Sentinel-1, -2 and -3) and the construction of the associated ground segment.

Until the launch of these satellites, which is slated for 2011/12, ESA will also co-ordinate the provision of the Earth observation data needed for the services currently operated by the European Community. In this way, GMES will advance step by step from the pre-operational stage through to full operational readiness. This stage will have been reached when the Sentinel satellites are in position on their respective orbits.

ESA

Sentinel-1 is an all-weather, day/night radar imaging satellite mission for land and ocean services. Weighing roughly 2.2 metric tonnes, from 2011 the satellite will orbit the Earth at an altitude of 700 km. Its orbital path will always take it across the Earth’s poles, enabling the radar instrument to scan the Earth in swaths as the planet rotates beneath it. Sentinel-1 will observe the Earth for at least seven years.

The C-band SAR (synthetic aperture radar) instrument built by Astrium is the core element of the mission. The C-band radar beam, which has a wavelength of six centimetres, penetrates forests and bushes to reach the soil beneath, so that any movements and changes to the Earth’s surface can be registered to within a few centimetres.

Synthetic aperture radar makes use of the satellite’s flight motion to simulate a considerably larger antenna than is actually present, thereby significantly improving image resolution. Sentinel-1 will actually be equipped with an active antenna consisting of 280 individual antennas. It will be possible to electronically direct the antenna at a new imaging area without having to be moved for the purpose. SAR technology thus enables several contiguous swaths to be scanned as the satellite flies over them, and these images can later be assembled to form a larger overall picture.

A further notable feature is that the radar instrument is capable of operating in four different modes, which differ primarily in terms of the corridor width covered and the resolution of the radar images – which means that Sentinel-1 can cater for many different requirements, from images of 80km-wide swaths, down to 20×20km spots.

Sentinel-1, primed by Thales Alenia Space, is specially designed to perform a broad range of tasks in the areas of environment and security. These include observing environmental phenomena, deployment for coverage of crisis areas or humanitarian relief projects following natural disasters, and support for agricultural projects – to name just a few examples.

ESA Sentinel-2 is a mission to provide high-resolution, multi-spectral images for land-based services. It will deliver sophisticated optical images in a large number of spectral ranges. Starting in 2012, the roughly 1.1-metric-tonne satellite will orbit the Earth on a sun-synchronous, polar orbit at an altitude of 786 km, providing complete global coverage in just ten days. Sentinel-2 is intended to image the Earth’s land masses from orbit for at least seven years, ensuring continuity in Europe’s optical Earth observation capabilities.

Astrium was appointed prime contractor for the design, development and integration of the platform and satellite – and now heads a European industrial consortium whose core team members are as follows: Astrium SAS is responsible for the payload instrument and system support activities; Boostec, France, is supplying the silicon-carbide telescope with three mirrors; Astrium Madrid-Barajas is in charge of structural and thermal work on the satellite; Jena-Optronik, Germany, is responsible for the electrical instrument architecture, including video signal processing and data compression; and Sener, Spain, is supplying the mechanism for calibrating and the protection of the instruments. As prime contractor, Astrium Friedrichshafen will also perform the entire satellite integration and associated testing. Astrium Toulouse will supply the multi-spectral instrument which will deliver optical images in 13 spectral channels in the visible and short-wave infrared range down to a resolution of 10m with an image width of 290km.

It is planned to extend the overall Sentinel-2 system by a second satellite later on so that, by operating the two satellites simultaneously, it will be possible to provide global coverage every five days.

Sentinel-3 is a satellite designed to deliver infrared radiometry, i.e. high-precision temperature readings, altimetry (altitude measurements) via radar, and multi-spectral images with a ground resolution of 500–1,000m. This combination of measurements is vital for coastal surveillance, forecasting of ocean currents and waves, and for environmental data on land. It will thus be used for global monitoring of oceans and land areas. The first Sentinel-3 satellite is scheduled for launch in 2012. Astrium is bidding to deliver important, flight-proven instruments for this satellite. Astrium Espana has already been selected to prime the microwave radiometer. Thales Alenia Space is prime contractor for the satellite.

The gradual implementation of GMES has been made possible through joint activities and investments by ESA and the EU member states. It thus constitutes the second flagship of European space policy after the Galileo navigation system. By its very nature, Earth observation is first and foremost a huge adventure for science and technology. But over the last few years it has also become an important part of the economy – in the first instance through operation of the satellites, controlling them in orbit, and recording and distribution of the data acquired. Seen as a whole, however, the marketing of this information today adds real value to this knowledge.

SOURCE

The use of Google Earth to make a virtual discovery, which then led to an actual one, is just the latest example of how the spread of satellite technology – and related computer applications such as Google Earth – are changing the way scientists, conservationists, and ordinary citizens are monitoring the environment and communicating their findings to the public.

In October 2008, scientists with the Royal Botanical Garden at Kew discovered a rich pocket of biodiversity, including several notable new species, in a remote highland forest in Mozambique. Trekking into the inaccessible, 17,000-acre region, botanists and biologists found 200 types of butterflies, hundreds of plant species, and numerous animals and insects, including three new species of Lepidoptera butterfly and a new member of the poisonous Gaboon viper family.

What’s significant about this find is that it was initiated not by some intrepid adventurer, but rather by a scientist sitting behind his computer. Three years prior, conservationist Julian Bayliss identified the site – Mount Mabu – using Google Earth. Bayliss, a Tanzanian ecologist, then helped plan and lead the expedition.

The use of Google Earth to make a virtual discovery, which then led to an actual one, is just the latest example of how the spread of satellite technology – and related computer applications such as Google Earth – are changing the way scientists, conservationists, and ordinary citizens are monitoring the environment and communicating their findings to the public.

Once the exclusive domain of the military, government officials, and specialised scientists, satellite technology is being democratised and is fast becoming an indispensable tool for researchers across a wide spectrum of environmental fields. In the past several years, one of the chief uses for satellite imagery has been to accurately quantify the loss of tropical forests from the Amazon, to the Congo, to Indonesia. In Brazil, scientists and state environmental protection officials can now monitor fires and forest clearing almost in real-time and take action to combat the deforestation.

But perhaps the most revolutionary advance in using satellites to monitor the planet has been the ever-widening use of remote sensing technology by ordinary citizens. Google Earth has been instrumental in this development and represents a critical point in its evolution, allowing anyone with an Internet connection to attach data to a geographic representation of Earth. Citizens and environmental groups are now using Google Earth to tracks threats to pristine rivers from hydroelectric projects, catalogue endangered species, help indigenous people in the Amazon protect their land, and alert citizens and government officials that boats are illegally fishing off the Canary Islands.

“A decade ago, high-resolution satellite imagery for the whole planet would have been accessible only to a handful of people working in government agencies, resource extraction, or as scientists,” said David Tryse, an Internet technology specialist – and ordinary citizen – who has developed numerous Google Earth applications now being used by scientists and conservation groups. “Today it is in the hands of millions of people. It’s impossible to care about something if you don’t know it exists, but now people can fly across the planet and zoom in to see for themselves the huge fires from Shell’s gas-flaring operations in the Nigerian delta or follow the discoloured toxic runoff along a hundred kilometres of rain forest river downstream from a goldmine in Peru or Indonesian Papua.”

The first launch of a non-weather satellite for civilian use occurred in 1972, when NASA put Landsat into orbit to monitor the planet’s landmasses, tracking everything from desertification to changes in agriculture. Since then, ever-more sophisticated satellites have used cameras and a variety of sensors – including passive microwave, which can penetrate clouds to image the earth’s surface, and infrared sensors that can measure temperatures – to monitor a host of physical processes. One of the key functions has been the use of passive microwave technology to chronicle the steady decline of Arctic sea ice over the past 30 years.

Today, many countries use satellites to monitor their environment, including Brazil, which has one of the world’s most sophisticated systems for tracking deforestation. Brazil uses two systems that can rapidly identify where forest loss is occurring, giving the country’s environmental protection agency the technical capacity – although not necessarily the political will – to combat deforestation as it happens. Those systems rely on optical sensors and thus cannot see through clouds, but Brazil will soon launch its own earth observation satellite with cloud-penetrating technology, known as LIDAR.

Greg Asner of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University has used advanced LIDAR technology to scan a Hawaiian forest and identify alien plant species by their canopies and the amount of ground plants that grow under them.

A new frontier for remote sensing is the emergence of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), a mechanism for compensating tropical countries for conserving their forests. To date, one of the biggest hurdles for the concept has been establishing credible national baselines for deforestation rates – in order to compensate countries for “avoided deforestation”, officials must first know how much forest the country has been clearing on a historical basis. For the remote sensing community, REDD presents an opportunity to showcase the power of remote sensing and generate a source of funding for countries to improve their sensing capabilities.

Introduced in 2005, Google Earth – which can be downloaded for free – aggregates and organises satellite imagery, aerial photography, and three-D global information system data from a range of sources and presents it in a format that is easily accessible to the general public. Through KML, Google Earth’s programming language, users “interact” with the planet, attaching images and other information to geospatial data. This makes Google Earth an ideal tool for conservationists, such as the group Save the Elephants, which tracks the movement of elephants across Africa to see where they come into conflict with humans and where they forage. To further such conservation goals, Google has developed its Outreach program, an initiative that works with nonprofits to develop tools using Google Earth.

Part of the inspiration for Google Earth Outreach came from within the company itself. Rebecca Moore, a programmer at Google, used Google Earth to document a planned logging project near her home in Santa Cruz County, Calif. Working with members from her community, Moore created a virtual map of the area that would be affected. Her subsequent data animation, which took users on a virtual flyover across the proposed logging zone, generated a firestorm of protest and led to the cancellation of the project. Google Outreach was established shortly thereafter, in June 2007, with Moore in charge.

“Because Google Earth provides, for many areas, such a realistic model of the real earth, you almost feel as if you are on that mountaintop or looking over that valley,” said Moore. “This immersive experience enables conservation organisations to convey complex environmental issues more quickly and persuasively to busy decision-makers, the media and the general public.”

Many scientists have begun to adapt Google Earth technology to their research and their communications with the public. The technology also has emerged as an effective way to publish scientific results in an accessible and meaningful format. While Google Earth is not going to replace scientific journals, it offers a concise, visual format for presenting research that can be more compelling than data points on a chart, rows in a spreadsheet, or a 4-color map.

Mark Mulligan of the Environmental Monitoring and Modeling Group at King’s College London has capitalised on the power of Google Earth to create HealthyPlanet.org, an initiative that allows people to virtually see, and sponsor, a specific piece of many of the planet’s 77,000 protected areas. His group also worked on an application, Costing Nature, that allows users to trace stream flow in an urban area back to the protected area where it fell as rainfall, providing a potent example of the value of ecosystem services. In addition, Mulligan’s team has developed Google Earth applications examining the impact of oil production in the Ecuadorean Amazon and the distribution of tropical cloud forests.

“Traditionally remote sensing data have been difficult to get hold of, difficult to process, and beyond the means of many of the smaller conservation organisations,” said Mulligan. “Google Earth allows these organisations to look at their projects from space and draw upon a wealth of environmental data, in addition to the imagery. Clearly, conservation needs good professionals working with communities on the ground, but it also needs to harness the significant body of interested citizens who can do their bit.”

Google Earth is also being used for original research. One study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science last year, was based on an analysis of 8,510 cattle spotted in Google Earth images of 308 pastures and plains around the world. Surprisingly, two-thirds of the cattle – as well as a majority of 3,000 grazing deer monitored in satellite photos from the Czech Republic – tended to align themselves with the Earth’s magnetic field lines, in a north-south direction. The research employed satellite technology to spot a phenomenon that literally had been hiding in plain sight for millennia: that large, non-migratory land animals were affected by the earth’s magnetism. (Earlier studies had established that magnetism guided the long-distance migrations of birds, fish, butterflies, and animals.)

Among the ordinary citizens who have been most active in marshaling the power of Google Earth for environmental work is David Tryse. His interest in conservation led him to develop an application for the Zoological Society of London’s “EDGE of Existence” program, an initiative to promote awareness of – and generate funding for – 100 of the world’s rarest species. His application allows people to surf the planet to see photos of endangered species, information about their habitat, and the threats they face. Tryse also has used Google Earth to track deforestation worldwide, highlight hydroelectric threats to Borneo’s rivers, map global biodiversity hot spots, and monitor encroachment on the lands of isolated, indigenous tribes around the world.

The Jane Goodall Foundation, a partner in a project known as Google Earth Outreach, uses Google Earth three-dimensional images to show Tanzanian villagers that forests are the source of their water and to enlist the villagers in identifying chimpanzee habitat and elephant paths.

One of the first Google Earth Outreach projects involved indigenous tribes in the Amazon rain forest. Facing an onslaught of threats to their lands and culture, the tribes have embraced advanced technology as a means of protecting and better managing their homeland. The tribes – including the Surui in western Brazil and the Wayana and Trio in Suriname – are using GPS to map their lands, plot rivers, sites of spiritual significance, and their resources, including medicinal plants and rich hunting grounds. The Rainforest Foundation UK and the Global Canopy Program are taking a similar approach in Congo and Cameroon, respectively, helping communities map their lands to protect against illegal logging and other forms of encroachment.

“Google Earth is used primarily for vigilance,” said Vasco van Roosmalen, Brazil program director for the Amazon Conservation Team, an organisation that has co-ordinated the Google Earth project with the tribes. “Indians log on to Google Earth and study images, inch by inch, looking to see where new gold mines are popping up or where invasions are occurring. They can see river discoloration, which could be the product of sedimentation and pollution from a nearby mine. They are able to use these images to find the smallest gold mine.”

As Chief Almir Surui of the Suri tribe put it, “The Surui know little about the Internet, but Google knows little about the forest, so working together we will be stronger”.

First published in Yale Environment 360 on March 26, 2009.

About the Author

Rhett Butler is the founder and editor of Mongabay.com, one of the leading sites on the Web covering tropical forests and biodiversity. In previous articles he has written about how the global commodities boom accelerated clearing of the Amazon and about the burgeoning wildlife trade in Laos.

SOURCE

ERDAS Inc. announces that T-MAPY is now the official ERDAS distributor to customers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Based in Hradec Králové, T-MAPY has offices throughout the Czech Republic. Founded in 1992, T-MAPY is a subsidiary of T-Kartor, the official ERDAS distributor in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

T-MAPY specializes in GIS and cartography, with expertise in the domains of hydrographical, aeronautical, land mapping, transport management decision support, urban planning, complex municipality GIS and crisis management. As an ERDAS distributor, T-MAPY provides local market reach, as well as proven experience with data sharing, enterprise and visualization solutions.

“ERDAS products compliment our portfolio, with world leading solutions for authoring, managing, connecting and delivering geospatial information,” said Milan Novotny, Managing Director, T-MAPY. “As a key member of the T-Kartor Group, we are extending the ERDAS distribution from the Nordic region to Central Europe, building off of T-Kartor’s synergies for customers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.”

T-MAPY will provide sales, technical support, training and services, including software customization and project consulting of all ERDAS products. Implementing Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) compliance, ERDAS technologies solve business and interoperability problems, increasing customers’ performance and functionality to meet a wide range of geospatial needs.

“We are excited to have T-MAPY as our distributor in the Czech Republic and Slovakia,” said Thomas Bayer, Vice President EMEA, ERDAS. “T-MAPY brings experience and innovation to ERDAS users in this part of the world, ensuring the most comprehensive support of our products and services.”

For more information about T-MAPY, please visit http://www.tmapy.cz/public/tmapy/en/_first_page.html.
For more information about ERDAS, please call +1 770 776 3400, toll free +1 866 534 2286, or visit http://www.erdas.com.

About ERDAS

ERDAS – The Earth to Business Company – helps organizations harness the information of the changing earth for greater advantage.

ERDAS creates geospatial business systems that transform our earth’s data into business information, enabling individuals, businesses and public agencies to quickly access, manage, process and share that information from anywhere.

Using secure geospatial information, ERDAS solutions improve employee, customer and partner visibility to information, enabling them to respond faster and collaborate better. It also means better decision-making, increased productivity and new revenue streams.

ERDAS is a part of the Hexagon Group, Sweden. For more information about ERDAS or its products and services, please call +1 770 776 3400, toll free +1 866 534 2286, or visit www.erdas.com.

Media Contacts:
Jason Sims
ERDAS Inc.
Marketing Manager
5051 Peachtree Corners Circle, Suite 100
Norcross, GA 30092
Phone: +1 770 776 3400 or +1 866 534 2286
E-mail: Jason.Sims@erdas.com

Space & Satellite experts from the MENA region line-up for Global Space Technology Forum as UAE’s first government satellite heads for summer launch

The UAE is forging ahead with the development of a national space industry and its pioneering role can help accelerate the establishment of a Pan Arab space agency which would reduce the cost of sending satellites into orbit.

The recent announcement by Abu Dhabi based 4C GEOC for a US$1 billion dollar Earth Observation Space Center, Yahsat’s planned telecommunication satellites launches and the scheduled launch this summer of the UAE’s first ingeniously built remote sensing satellite, DubaSat-1, is further evidence that the UAE is showing the way forward for Arab countries in the creation of a regional space programme.

The need for the UAE to lead Arab countries into space was highlighted by senior delegates at the Global Space Technology Forum launched in Abu Dhabi last November, and that message is being underlined in the countdown to this year’s event which will attract experts from NASA to the UAE capital for the first time in December.

The establishment of an Arab Space Research Agency is seen as essential to combine talent, information and technology between countries in the Middle East and North Africa, and plans have already been submitted to governments across the region.

“With the UAE Government already working hard to develop science and technology, the Emirates is seen as the logical venue for the agency’s headquarters,” said Nick Webb, Director of Streamline Marketing Group, organisers of the Global Space Technology Forum. “Regional governments have been studying plans and more detailed proposals are being formulated.

“The Middle East, North Africa and Indian Subcontinent as a whole are keen to enter the space age in a big way in order to benefit from the enormous opportunities offered by next generation space research and commercial space applications.”

Due to be launched in the summer from the Baikonur complex in Kazakstan, the former centre for the Soviet space programme, DubaiSat-1 will provide data for infrastructure development, rural and urban development planning, management of natural disasters and provision of accurate maps.

It is among more than 20 emerging national space projects in the Middle East and Africa, a region which is rapidly evolving as one of the key growth markets for the global space industry.

This will be highlighted at the second Global Space Technology Forum, (http://www.smg-conferences.com/gstf/) taking place at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre from 7-9 December, which will draw senior representatives from space agencies and national space programmes, government officials and policy makers, as well as entrepreneurs, investors, engineers, scientists, and airline and aerospace senior management.

The event combines a three-day exhibition of the latest space technology equipment and services with a two-day conference outlining global policy relating to private ventures and future projects in space, new technology and research efforts making space access easy and affordable.

The forum will provide a platform for decision makers representing Middle East Space and Satellite projects from countries such as Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Oman, Vietnam, UAE and Algeria to come together for the first time to discuss Space and Satellite Technology, and join representatives of the NASA, European Space Agency, and other prestigious space programmes worldwide. A series of special closed-door meetings will allow decision makers representing leading Middle East space programmes and other emerging space markets to discuss their requirements and projects.

The Forum will be rounded off on the final day by a high level Advanced Sat-Com Conference spotlighting the advances in satellite communications which are slowly revolutionising the communication sector.

Highlighting the UAE’s pioneering role in regional space industry developments is Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat), the country’s first nationally-owned satellite operator.

Last year Yahsat signed an agreement with the UAE Armed Forces to provide secure satellite communications in the UAE following an earlier agreement with Arianespace, the European launch service and solutions company, to launch the Yahsat 1A satellite in the fourth quarter of 2010. Another agreement has been signed with International Launch Services (ILS) to launch the Yahsat 1B satellite in first half of 2011.

The 2009 Global Space Technology Forum is expected to grow on last year’s launch event, which saw 32 leading experts from worldwide space organisations addressing a targeted audience of just over 250 conference delegates, with almost 1100 professionals attending the event overall.

The event has gained official support from the UAE Space Reconnaissance Center, the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology and the UAE Society of Engineers, in addition to industry media partners SpaceNewsfeed UK, Spacelinks and Geoconnexion.

© 2009 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

SOURCE AlBawaba

EC White paper “Adapting to climate change: Towards a European framework for action”

The earth’s climate is changing and the impacts are already being felt in Europe and across the world.

Global temperatures are predicted to continue rising, bringing changes in weather patterns, rising sea levels and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as storms, floods, droughts and heat waves. Such climatic events can have a major impact on households, businesses, critical infrastructure (transport, energy and water supply) and vulnerable sections of society (elderly, disabled, poor income households) as well as having a major economic impact. We must therefore prepare to cope with living in a changing climate. This process is known as adaptation.

In April 2009 the European Commission presented a policy paper known as a White Paper which presents the framework for adaptation measures and policies to reduce the European Union’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.
Decisions on how best to adapt to climate change must be based on solid scientific and economic analysis. It is therefore important to increase the understanding of climate change and the impacts it will have. The White Paper outlines the need to create a Clearing House Mechanism by 2011 where information on climate change risks, impacts and best practices would be exchanged between governments, agencies, and organisations working on adaptation policies.

Since the impacts of climate change will vary by region – with coastal and mountain areas and flood plains particularly vulnerable – many of the adaptation measures will need to be carried out nationally or regionally. The role of the European Union will be to support and complement these efforts through an integrated and coordinated approach, particularly in cross-border issues and policies which are highly integrated at EU level.

Adapting to climate change will be integrated into all EU policies and will feature prominently in the Union’s external policies to assist those countries most affected.

White Paper on adapting to climate change

Documents and links

  • Impact assessment on the White Paper on adapting to climate change (April 2009)
  • Executive summary of the impact assessment (April 2009)
  • Citizens’ summary on the White Paper (April 2009)
  • Discussion paper on agriculture (April 2009)
  • Discussion paper on health (April 2009)
  • Policy paper on Water, Coasts and Marine issues (April 2009)
  • Press release on adapting to climate change (April 2009)
  • Questions and answers on adaptation to climate change (April 2009)

Source EC.Europe

ESPI released a report on space-based services. The study investigates the main challenges to the development of space-based services in Europe and suggests relevant actions to decision-makers in order to fully exploit the potential of the well-developed European space-based infrastructure.

Over the past decades, Europe has made considerable investments in the development of its space infrastructure which is now substantial. European institutions and citizens, however, are still far from being able to take full advantage of what this infrastructure could offer them. With the growing political dimension of Europe, closer relations between ESA and the European Union, and the search for new sources of funding for space and new applications, European space activities have entered a new era and the investments made in the infrastructure could be further optimised. The focus is shifting from space systems to their applications and there is now strong political interest in the development of services, which could support European policies and further contribute to the European citizens’ welfare. Recent European initiatives to foster the development of new space-based services have nevertheless yielded limited results. Publicly funded programmes have led to the successful demonstration of new applications but most of these applications have not turned into operational services.

The study “Space-based Services in Europe – Addressing the Transition between Demonstration and Operation”, led by ESPI Research Fellow Charlotte Mathieu, investigates the main challenges to the transition from demonstration to operation in Europe, analyses the need for public action and suggests to European decision-makers relevant measures that could ensure that European citizens fully benefit from a well-developed space infrastructure. It emphasises the need for coordinated actions of all the stakeholders in Europe and for leadership in order to achieve a significant, large-scale development of space-based services in Europe, which could enable European decision-makers and citizens to reap the full benefits of their space infrastructure.

by ESPI Research Fellow Charlotte Mathieu
Source

ESPI Studies

Download ESPI Report 17
Space -based Services in Europe – Addressing the Transition between Demonstration and Operation

South Africa expects to launch its second microsatellite into low Earth orbit by June, after several cancellations.

If all goes well, the R26 million Sumbandila satellite (SumbandilaSat) will take to the heavens from Severemosk in Russia. Sumbandila is Venda for “lead the way”.

The satellite will be launched after midnight from a Russian nuclear-powered missile submarine in the icy Barents Sea as part of a Russian navy exercise.

The 18 200 ton Delta Class 4 sub, which is as long as one-and-a-half football pitches, will use a modified Shtil 2.1 intercontinental ballistic missile as a launch vehicle to place the satellite into an orbit 500km above earth.

The satellite will be controlled from an operations centre outside Pretoria. It has a lifespan of three years.

It is the culmination of talks involving satellite developer SunSpace, the Department of Science and Technology, Russia’s navy and space agency, the US and states along the flight path.

SumbandilaSat will give South Africa more access to space technology and strengthen its role in space initiatives.

These include the SA Environmental Observations Network and the African Resource and Environmental Constellation Programme.

The 81kg microsatellite will generate satellite imagery at a resolution equivalent to 6.25 metres above the ground. It will send the images to the ground tracking station at the Hartebeeshoek satellite application centre in Pretoria and a back-up station at the Overberg test range near Arniston.

It is an earth observation satellite system and its main payload is a remote sensing camera.

by Wiseman Khuzwayo
Source

Over the years to come climate change is likely to have considerable economic and social impacts in the EU, particularly in sectors such as agriculture, energy, health and maritime ecosystems.

Despite the emissions reduction targets that the EU is committed to achieve, some consequences of climate change are inevitable and could be even more substantial and swifter than expected. Finding a comprehensive strategy for adaptation to climate change is therefore needed in addition to mitigation measures, which is the key objective of the White Paper issued by the Commission on 1 April 2009.

The document outlines concrete actions for strengthening the Union’s capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change in a time framework split in two phases. The first phase (covering the period 2009-2013) will seek, among others, to increase knowledge on climate change impact and to integrate adaptation to key EU policies (such as agriculture, health, maritime and fishery affairs). This phase should lay the groundwork for the second phase: a comprehensive EU adaptation strategy to be implemented from 2013 and beyond.

The consequences of climate change will vary from one region to another. Therefore the Commission proposes most adaptation measures to be carried out at national or regional level, while the EU would support these efforts through an integrated and coordinated approach, particularly in cross-border issues and common EU policies.

In order to develop knowledge on climate change impact, the Commission suggests establishing an IT tool: a Clearing House Mechanism by 2011. The later would contribute to the Shared Environmental Information System (an initiative by the European Commission and the European Environment Agency seeking to establish an integrated and shared EU-wide environmental information system). The Commission states also that the Clearing House Mechanism will rely on geographical information provided by GMES.

With regard to upcoming actions, the Commission will set up by 1 September 2009 an Impact and Adaptation Steering Group (IASG) consisting of representatives from Member States involved in the drawing up of national and regional adaptation programmes. The group will consult with representatives from civil society and the scientific community.

Source GMES.Info

More information on

White paper Adapting to climate change: Towards a European framework for action

…supporting action developing the EO service industry capabilities…

In 2006, ESA undertook a study with EARSC under the banner of eoVox with a view to identifying key actions that were required in order to help foster the growth and development of the EO VA industry in Europe and Canada. Since that activity a boiling synergy has induced an EARSC evolution and restructuring of our industry and of its representation, therefore eoVox2 initiative is expected to be another breakthrough to improve even further the representation of European Earth Observation Industry in a variety of contexts. In the very near future EARSC will update you on the specific actions it is taking to coordinate the eoVox2 efforts. As we move forward with these plans, we will do in a dialog form, and united by a commitment to working in partnership with industry and stakeholders. More information on eoVox will be prepared in a dedicated website.