News

ESA’s EO4SD Climate Resilience Cluster recently concluded a seven-part webinar series on how earth observation can support climate-resilient decision-making, including expert speakers from leading IFIs. The webinar recordings and materials are now available online to watch and download for free.

The EO4SD Climate cluster coordinated a panel discussion, hosted by Innovate4Climate, addressed to the question of earth observation (EO) and the future of climate resilience. The panel convened five distinguished representatives from the provider and user sides, including the European Space Agency (ESA), the World Bank, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), African Risk Capacity (ARC), and the Group on Earth Observations (GEO).

The ESA EO4SD Climate Cluster is hosting a free webinar series to provide insight about the potential of Earth Observation (EO) to support climate-resilient decision making at the regional and national scale. The seven-part series is will be hosted every Thursday at 16:00 (CEST) starting 11th June 2020. The series is aimed at all those interested in developing a foundational knowledge of EO and how it can be applied practically in the context of climate-resilience projects and programmes.

The EO4SD Climate Resilience (CR) Cluster has embarked upon phase two of their mission to help countries around the world increase their climate resilience by using EO data.

The EO4SD Climate Resilience Cluster’s introductory webinar to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) demonstrated how EO data has helped to inform decision-making processes in the area of climate change adaptation. Attended by over 35 participants, the webinar showcased how IFAD staff can best utilise the Cluster’s capabilities to enhance the climate resilience of the Fund’s projects.

GMV's Carlos Domenech will represent the EO4SD Climate Resilience Cluster at COP25 in Madrid from 2nd - 13th December. Carlos will be engaging with a wide variety of organisations about the Cluster's ongoing work, and promoting the benefits of Earth Observation in support of climate resilience.

Through a collaboration with the African Risk Capacity, the EO4SD climate resilience cluster is providing earth observation data on essential climate variables including soil moisture and precipitation, to feed into the Africa RiskView tool. Africa RiskView is the region’s leading tool to inform decision making on drought and food security.

The EO4SD CR cluster has been working with IFIs including the World Bank, IFC, Africa Risk Capacity, and IDB, to integrate earth observation into existing tools and platforms that they use to enhance climate resilient decision making. EO data on several essential climate variables are being provided to some of the most well-known climate data platforms including the World Bank's Climate Change Knowledge Portal.

Over the past year, the EO4SD Climate Resilience cluster has been working with the Asian Development Bank to provide Earth Observation (EO) data in support of climate resilience projects in the Philippines and China. To help improve flood risk management planning in the Philippines, the cluster has developed a prototype monitoring service to better detect seasonal fluctuations of water bodies and long-term changes. Additionally, the cluster used past EO images and precipitation data to map the extent and location of past flooding events in Yanji City.

The Lake Victoria Basin is Africa’s largest freshwater lake and currently faces multiple environmental, economic and social challenges that all together contribute to the degradation of Lake Victoria. In partnership with the Lake Victoria Basin Commission the EO4SD cluster is working to develop an environmental management project for the Basin to help it maintain its ecological integrity.