Community Event Session 8: Earth Intelligence for Food, Water, and Ecosystem Resilience

06 May 25, 09:00 - 10:30
Room A

Community Event Session 8: Earth Intelligence for Food, Water, and Ecosystem Resilience

Objectives

The session aims to highlight the strategic role of Earth observation (EO) in strengthening the resilience of food and water systems, conserving biodiversity, and supporting sustainable land and ecosystem management. Through a cross-sectoral and multi-stakeholder approach, the event will demonstrate how EO-based tools and platforms can be applied to monitor biological hazards, track essential agricultural variables, and guide integrated environmental governance.

Specific objectives include:

  1. Showcasing the practical use of EO in monitoring land and water resources, including examples from the FAO Agro-Informatics Platform and GEOGLAM initiative, to support agrifood system transformation.
  2. Promoting best practices in data interoperability, open standards, and integration of EO into national and regional policies to support scalable, operational solutions.
  3. Encouraging collaboration across GEO Members, international organizations, space agencies, academia, civil society, and the private sector to ensure coordinated, impactful EO applications.
  4. Fostering inclusive participation by emphasizing capacity building, youth engagement, and equitable access to EO technologies for low-income countries and underrepresented regions.

By sharing case studies, expert insights, and forward-looking perspectives, the session will deliver actionable recommendations aligned with GEO’s Post-2025 Strategy and contribute to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those related to food security, water management, climate resilience, and ecosystem protection.

Agenda

09:00 – 09:05 Opening Remarks

Lifeng Li, FAO, Director, Land and Water Division

09:05 – 09:45 Flash Presentations

Moderator: Wenjiang Huang, AIR-CAS, Co-Chair of GEO-PDRS, Vegetation monitoring and Applications Scientist

Panelists

  • Livia Peiser, FAO, Senior Land and Water Officer, Geospatial Unit Team Leader
  • Wenjiang Huang, AIR-CAS, Co-Chair of GEO-PDRS, Vegetation monitoring and Applications Scientist
  • Esther Makabe, GEOGLAM, Capacity Building Coordinator (or Sven Gilliams, GEOGLAM Program Director)
  • Qinhuo Liu, AIR-CAS, Co-Chair of GEOARC, Ecosystem Mapping and Monitoring Scientist
  • Felix Rembold, JRC, Team Leader, Food Security
  • Wenbin Wu, Director General of IARRP, CAAS, Agricultural Resources and Planning Applications Expert
  • Zoltan Szantoi, ESA, Land Applications Scientist

09:45 – 10:00 Audience Q&A

10:00 – 10:20 Panel Discussion

Moderator: Zhongxin Chen, FAO, Senior Information Technology Officer, Agro-Informatics Team Leader

Panelists

  • Claudia Pittiglio, FAO, Disease Ecology and Risk Modelling Expert
  • Giancarlo Pini, WFP, Climate and Earth Observation Analyst
  • Yingying Dong, AIR-CAS, Vegetation Growth Monitoring Scientist
  • Ruud Grim, Netherlands Space Office
  • Abu Diaby, IFAD, Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist l Hongwei Zeng, AIR-CAS, GEOGLAM

10:20 – 10:30 Final Q&A and Closing Remarks

Zhongxin Chen, FAO, Senior Information Technology Officer, Agro-Informatics Team Leader

Moderator, Speakers

Zhongxin Chen
Zhongxin Chen
Moderator,FAO
WenJiang Huang
WenJiang Huang
Speaker,AIRCAS
Qinhuo Liu
Qinhuo Liu
Speaker,AIRCAS
Esther Makabe
Esther Makabe
Speaker,GEO Secretariat
Livia Peiser
Livia Peiser
Speaker,FAO
Stefano Pignatti
Stefano Pignatti
Speaker,IMAA
Giancarlo Pini
Giancarlo Pini
Speaker,WFP
Felix Rembold
Felix Rembold
Speaker,JRC
zoltan szantoi
zoltan szantoi
Speaker,ESA