Showcase Events continued

Barbara Ryan (World Geospatial Industry Council - WGIC), Jean-François Gauthier (GHGSat), Osamu Ochiai (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency - JAXA)

A discussion on instruments (in orbit and airborne) available today to look at CH4, CO2 and air quality gases, and how they complement each other in providing the most accurate, insightful and actionable picture possible.

Barbara Ryan (World Geospatial Industry Council - WGIC), Christian Feichtinger (International Astronautical Federation - IAF), Myriam Morabet (International Astronautical Federation - IAF), Richard Spinrad (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA)

The IAF Global Space Conference on Climate Change (GLOC 2023) which was held in Oslo, Norway on 23-25 May 2023 has engaged the space community, political leadership, industry representatives, climate change experts, media and end-users in achieving a better understanding of the benefits and power of space in fighting the climate issues. This is also one of the key ambitions for the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) as the organizer and the Norwegian Space Agency (NOSA) hosting the conference – putting “space for climate action” into a larger context”. GLOC 2023 aimed to: · Making our political leadership more aware of the power of space in solving climate issues · Also presenting real use-cases of space-based services and applications being implemented in developing countries and emerging communities · Debating how the communities now experiencing the effects of climate change can engage with the space community to develop real services · Better understanding how to communicate these benefits to the non-space society – engaging the media A description of findings, recommendations, and real actions will be also presented at a Highlight Lecture of the 74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023) in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Frédéric Bretar (National Centre for Space Studies - CNES), Emmanuel Brempong (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement – project WACA-VAR), Elodie Blanchard (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement – project MANGROVES), Florent Veillon (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement – project Cimopolée)

The Space for Climate Observatory (SCO), established in 2019, bring together public and private entities in Earth Observation to harness satellite data and digital technologies for climate action. It coordinates international efforts to create operational tools for climate monitoring, mitigation, and adaptation. In this session, three impact stories demonstrate the SCO’s significance. First, CIMOPOLEE focuses on quantifying and monitoring cyclone impacts in the southwest Indian Ocean, utilizing Sentinel-1 and 2 data and local authority engagement. The MANGROVES monitoring platform highlights the conservation of mangroves, tracking spatial distribution, maturity, chlorophyll activity, and more. Lastly, the WACA-VAR addresses climate change’s effects on West African coasts, offering satellite data to inform coastal risk management policies, exemplifying the practical benefits of SCO’s collaborative approach.

Nathaniel Newlands (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Statistics Canada), Angelica Gutierrez (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA), Nancy Searby (USGEO/NASA), Virginia Burkett (United States Geological Survey - USGS), Lennox Gladden (National Climate Change Office of Belize)

The Small Island Developing States (SIDS) around the world, including Latin America and the Caribbean, are particularly vulnerable to climate change and natural hazards. Extreme weather and climate events damage infrastructure and harm people’s lives and well-being, undoing the progress countries have made. To help these countries be more resilient to climate hazards and to support the Early Warnings for All Initiative, the GEO Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) subgroup 2 (SG2) working group is currently forwarding collaborations with Jamaican experts and leaders to build long-term capacity using EO data for increasing disaster resilience at the local, regional, national scales. The collaborative effort with Jamaican academic and Ministries partners is now in a project co-design stage through the Initiative for Enhancing Capacity for Climate Risk Assessment and Catalyzing Partnerships to Inform Decisions in Latin America and the Caribbean (LACI). The initiative facilitates partnership building, data synthesis and analysis to actionable knowledge; youth and community engagement; and governmental science-policy integration. In advancing the project design, this showcase event will bring together various leaders from the GEO community to discuss how to turn this DRR-WG task to be a coherent "cross-Working Group task" by integrating and synergizing with other ongoing activities from relevant GEO Work Programmes, Working Groups, Participating Organizations and communities of practice. The representatives will comment on proposed activities on capacity-building, sharing strategies for inter-agency and multi-sectoral knowledge transfer, science-policy pathways, and systemic risk approaches at regional scales. Anyone form the GEO community is welcome to join the conversation in building meaningful relationships and sustainable partnerships among Caribbean, Latin American, and North American countries to enhance capacity for climate risk and vulnerability assessments that support local and regional decision-making.

Miguel Angel Exposito Verdejo (European Commission), Fabio Venuti (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts - ECMWF), Vincent Gabaglio (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites - EUMETSAT), Muliro Mashauri (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - UNDRR)

The event will showcase how EO from satellites and other remote sensors as well as ground observations help us to interpret the “messages” of the Earth so that we can ensure services that are (1) co-designed with and tailored to those who need them the most, 2) delivered where they are needed, 3) and are available at the right time (4) are used by the local actors. Many countries Southern regions are amongst the most vulnerable of the world to natural hazards and climate change, including erratic rain patterns and more extreme and frequent weather events such as tropical cyclones or heatwaves. Yet their governments often lack the capacities to implement adequate disaster and climate risk management strategies to face these types of crisis when they occur. The event will illustrate how building to EO value chain from data to information and services we can build value for local actors and communities, with a focus on Africa. While EUMETSAT will illustrate how the recent launch of MTG third generation provides incredible resources for data more and more accurate and precise, ECMWF will focus on its long-lasting experience in supporting the development of Early Warning system by ingesting observations to produce analyses and forecasts. Finally, UNDRR will illustrate how data and information flows into operational value chain (e.g. UNDRR Africa situational room) allowing local institutional actor to be able to act and react in due time.

Meghavi Prashnani (NASA Harvest UMD), Ashutosh Limaye (NASA)

NASA’s collaboration with GEO spans over two decades, with significant growth, benefits, and impact over the years from activities such as GEOGLAM and GEOGLoWS. NASA programs such as SERVIR and HARVEST have contributed to these activities. SERVIR is a joint NASA/USAID program that aims to enhance the Earth observation capacity of users in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. HARVEST is a consortium of organizations using Earth observations to benefit food security and agriculture around the world. This session will showcase cross benefits between NASA and GEO and illustrate how collaboration leads to impact on the ground through improved decisions and actions. The session will also provide a reflection on the successes, challenges and a look into the future.

Andreas Brink (European Commission), Theresia Bilola (Integrated Carbon Observation System - ICOS ERIC), Cheick Mbow (Centre de Suivi Écologique - CSE)

The event will address the importance of partnership and co-creation in the climate services landscape. Establishing strong partnerships which lead to co-design of tailored solutions is, in many cases, the efficient way forward to also ensure ownership of the solutions. Following a policy-driven initial flash talk by the moderator, the panel will discuss the importance of data, information (model) and service both in the context of adaptation and mitigation, building on the EU flagship initiatives Regional Centres of Excellence in Africa. The session will then move to showcase a concrete example, the KADI project. KADI develops co-designed services to address climate-related challenges in Africa, with a dedicated focus on strategic pilots (i.e.cities).

Ruud Grim (Netherlands Space Office - NSO), Livia Peiser (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations - FAO), Lisa-Maria Rebello (DE-Africa), Sven Gilliams (GEOGLAM), Malehloa C. Molato (Lesotho Bureau of Statistics)

FAO WaPOR is a toolkit to monitor water and land productivity as well as perform water resources assessments, among other applications. WaPOR will become globally available by end 2023. This workshop will address institutional user needs, WaPOR services and use cases, capacity building, international cooperation. In a panel discussion the speakers and the audience will share lessons learned, explore synergies and cooperation with GEO and other activities.

Andiswa Mlisa (Pacific Community - SPC), Sachindra Singh (Pacific Community - SPC), Aditya Agrawal (D4DInsights)

The Pacific is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world due to climate change. Hosted by the Pacific Community (SPC), Digital Earth Pacific (DEP) is a digital public infrastructure serving free and open Earth observation data and products responsive to the specific needs, challenges and priorities of the region. Formally launched in October 2023, DEP is open for usage and currently serving alpha products (coastline change, mangroves, water observations) at scale for all member countries. We will discuss the importance of this program for the region, current capabilities, country perspective, future plans and how you can get engaged.

Neil Sims (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation - CSIRO), Diana Mastracci (Indigenous Alliance), Janet Anstee (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation - CSIRO), Marie Smith (GEO AquaWatch)

Indigenous communities deserve to be included in all user engagement efforts and needs assessments to also reap the benefit from water quality satellite data products and models. Yet in many parts of the world cultural sensitivities and lack of trust likely affect access and sharing of indigenous and traditional knowledge, especially on indigenous and native lands, User needs of ALL remain unmet. In addition, the basic value proposition of improving and sharing EO data must be nuanced via an informed co-design approach that is centered in mutual respect and equality - not just parachuting in with a one-size-fits-all, prescribed solution. This is the nexus of our efforts. Neil Sims, Janet Anstee and Diana Mastracci-Sanchez will summarize outcomes of a joint GEO AquaWatch, AquaWatch Australia and GEO Indigenous Alliance partnership in a UN Water Quality Innovation Challenge Workshop where we met a global team of indigenous knowledge innovators to tackle the relationship building and data framework challenges that arise. Further discussion featuring GEO Indigenous Alliance founding members describing the opportunities, importance and challenges of integrating traditional knowledge into the EO workflow will be featured. Marie Smith will be available to comment on how this effort relates to GEO AquaWatch’s (the global water quality initiative) core values and future workplan activities.