In the 3rd session (13th June), the international perspective was addressed with invited speakers from user organisations around the world. The results of the SeBS Transversal Analysis will be summarised along with the outcomes from the user-focused workshops. An international perspective on benefits in the three sectors was gathered by leveraging on the GeoValue community.
After a welcome from Alessandra Tassa (ESA), Wenbo Chu from the GEO Secretariat spoke concerning the importance of impact assessments and welcomes the GeoValue group efforts to prepare an Impact Assessment toolkit for GEO activities.
Joseph Conran from the GeoValue steering group then explained how GeoValue is seeking to develop best practice methods for evaluating the benefits of using EO data. A major task is starting to bring the expertise to GEO programme activities by developing a toolkit. Responding to Wenbo, the GeoValue Impact Assessment Toolkit (GIAT) will be developed over the next two years including testing its application with selected GEO activities.
Turning to the first application area of roads management, Joanna Balasis Levinsen provided a summary of the findings from the earlier sessions where roads agencies in both Norway and Italy are using InSAR services to support activities. Also in Norway, the cost of a new railway line has increased from 6b to 30b as a result of ground instability the impact of which may have been reduced if InSAR had been used earlier in the project. Paulo Barretto (EGIS) talked about the use of EO data to help manage a 500km highway in Turkey. EGIS is using historical as well as new data to look at and manage the risk of landslides as well as vegetation close to the road.
Rob Shaw provided an overview of the forests’ session in Session 1 of the workshop. Rob highlighted the important impact that EUDR legislation will have on forest monitoring worldwide and the need for improved co-ordination across borders in Europe. The SeBS case in Sweden has illustrated the positive contribution which a network of experts could provide for exchanging knowledge both between agencies and between forest experts internationally.
Yoshihiko Aga from the Japanese Forest Agency portrayed the situation in his country where some 65% of the land is covered with forest with 65% of that being planted/managed forest and the rest is ancient forest with a rich biodiversity. Increasingly, the emphasis in Japan is on holistic land management including forest and agriculture. A portal – FAMOST – has been established which provides land cover information to users. In February 2024, the agency has prepared a guidebook for regional and municipalities on forest management recognising the importance of consistency across the levels of government as well as the lack of specific skills throughout these parts of government.
Gilvan Sampaio (INPE) presented the picture in Brazil. PRODES is a long-established platform used to monitor the Amazonian forest. DETER is a more recent addition which uses satellite data to provide daily updates which are sent to the local authorities. In 2023, Sentinel data became the primary source following agreements signed between the EU, ESA and Eumetsat.
Carl Norlan from the USGS, explained that in the USA the strong focus is on land management and wildfires. Most of the forest in the west of the US is state-owned whilst in the east it belongs mainly to private owners. The US Forest Agency provides maps of the fuel potential indicating the potential risk of a fire and near-real-time monitoring of fires.
Moving on to water quality monitoring, Erin Jourdan IWA, reported from the earlier session 1 that countries are integrating satellite data with traditional methods and now showing advanced use and operational maturity. There is a growing recognition of the value of using satellite data across Europe. Regulations, especially the Water Framework Directive are a key driver for uptake. Many factors are influencing the uptake; data reliability, cost-effectiveness, tech integration, national efforts and collaborations.
Caren Binding from Environment and climate change Canada reports on using satellite observations for Canadian inland water algal bloom monitoring. Responsibility lies across multiple layers of government which has recently led to forming a Canadian water agency. Using near-real-time downloads of data, they provide daily and 14 day levels of chlorophyl-a through a web portal (EOLakeWatch), as well as weekly bulletins and annual reports.
Caroline Tiowana is from the Inkomati-usuthu catchment management agency (IUCMA) in South Africa. Their mission is to ensure sufficient, equitable and quality water resources for all. IUCMA covers 3 countries. Satellite data complements in-situ sampling whereby 10 lakes / reservoirs are monitored by in-situ sampling and 11 with satellite data. IUCMA has been processing historical data to predict blooms (80% accurate 1 week in advance). https://riverops.iucma.co.za/
Marit Undseth (OECD) reported from the morning session with the focus on local and regional users. For all those involved, access to skills is key barrier. Veneto has established an internal centre of excellence which is working well but they called for a national effort to achieve better coordination of procurement across regions. Patience is required as it needs 5-10-15 years of use to be able to correctly evaluate policy impact. One barrier if the need for investment in IT. A network of users would be very helpful also for helping suppliers.
Mark Dowell from the EC Joint Research Centre gave his summary of the event and led a final discussion. Several points were highlighted:
- The international event was most appropriate reflecting the EC ambition to use Copernicus and the Free and Open Data Policy as an international development tool.
- EU policies increasingly have a global reach for which EO data can be useful. The EUDR has been mentioned several times but in addition, methane and the EU commitment to international conventions can become very important. He noted the trend in Japan towards land management linked to carbon.
- This provides opportunities for European companies building upon Copernicus success.
- Sharing of best practices can also be seen as an EU policy tool to enhance influence and build upon Copernicus.
- Copernicus dataspace will provide long term access and continuity as well as bringing low-cost solutions to enable
- The move from projects to operational services.
- Consistency from national to regional to local levels of administration.
Alessandra Tassa from ESA thanked the speakers and highlighted the rich information provided during the session, whereby international cases seemed to resonate with European ones. She noted that there are not many established fora in which public administrations can share their experiences with the use of satellite data but that these exchanges seem useful and welcomed by the community thus ESA is available to support them.
| Joseph Conran | NOAA | Introducing GeoValue |
| Joanna Balasis Levinsen | EEA | Benefits of Copernicus for roads management in Europe (summary of earlier sessions) |
| Paolo Barretto | EGIS | Roads management in Turkey |
| Rob Shaw | PEFC | Benefits of Copernicus for forest management in Europe – summary of earlier sessions |
| Yoshihiko Ana | JFA | Use of satellite data for Forest management in Japan |
| Gilban Sampaio de Oliveira | INPE | Use of satellite data for forest management in Brazil |
| Carl Norlan | USGS | Use of satellite data for forest management in the US |
| Erin Jordan | IWA | Benefits of Copernicus for water quality management in Europe – summary of earlier sessions |
| Caren Binding | ECCC | Use of satellite data for water quality management in Canada |
| Caroline Tiowana | IUCMA | Use of satellite data for water quality management in South Africa |