The 6th International Conference “Earth from Space – the Most Effective Solutions” started at the Moscow Region “Vatutinki” resort hotel. Participants’ primary attention is focused on the issues of nature protection, international and national environmental programs and projects.
Natural resource monitoring by remote sensing satellites allows us to see the global objective picture of the Earth’s surface. Space images help to quantify the natural phenomena and human activities by obtaining repeated observations – multitemporal images. These features make the satellite data a perfect tool for monitoring, verification and reporting on the use of natural resources for sustainable development.
The new GFW will combine a free stream of satellite imagery with on-the-ground information to create a near-real-time forest change alert system. A web-based monitoring platform is currently under development and will be launched in late 2013, — said Lars Laestadius, PhD, Senior Associate of World Resources Institute, USA.
GFW 2.0 program will engage a network of organizations and experts with an interest in sustainable management of forests and greater forest conservation. In each country or region, program partners will be actively operating. Such partners in Russia will be ScanEx Research & Development Center and NGO “Transparent World”.
Russia will also take part in the new partnership program “Open Landscape”, which is expected to open free access for non-commercial use to very high-resolution satellite imagery data. Read more about the platform in our next newsletters.
Mr. Leon Rizzi, Regional Sales Manager – Russia, DigitalGlobe, USA shared the international experience in very-high resolution Earth observation data application for sustainable development. He demonstrated the possibilities of geoinformation data application for water supply solutions in Africa, for saving people in Sudan, for historical monuments protection in Romania and for forest monitoring in Russia.
A unique EO satellite constellation that delivers high frequency imaging anywhere on the globe are the DMC series spacecrafts. According to David Hodgson, CEO of DMCii, the DMC data is utilised for many projects that track natural resources, such as the Amazon rainforest.
— In addition to commercial products the DMC works actively within the International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’ to provide free satellite imagery for humanitarian use in the event of major international disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes, fires and flooding, noted David Hodgson.
Adviser to the Head of the Federal Space Agency Valery Zaichko reported about the status and prospects of development of the Russian system of remote sensing satellites. He emphasized the importance of expanding the use of remote sensing data of national spacecrafts and reduction of the use of satellite images obtained from foreign satellites. Currently, there are five Russian Earth observation satellites orbiting. By 2015, the Federal Space Agency plans to increase the group up to 12-15 spacecrafts and by 2020 – up to 25 remote sensing satellites.
– Yesterday a meeting of the state commission was held, which addressed the issue of putting into operation the “Resource-P” satellite. As of today, the vehicle is functioning normally. We invite all commercial distributors to efficient data distribution, – said Valery Zaichko.
In its turn, the Russian ScanEx Research and Development Center, adhering to the mission of democratization of access to remote sensing data, presented a new public monitoring system called “Space Watch”. The system is designed for the operational monitoring of the environment and human activities through space and geographic information technology application. Moscow Region is expected to be selected as a pilot area for the project initiation.
The main purpose of the system is to increase the openness and transparency of the activities of private companies, of citizens and the state in the sphere of land relations.
— “Space Watch” will promote early detection and prevention of various cases of violation of the legislation in the areas of natural and cultural heritage protection, environment, business activities, forestry and water management through the use of satellite imagery and GIS technology – said Vice-President of ScanEx RDC Olga Gershenzon.
A thematic internet portal with an interactive map is to post the high spatial resolution satellite imagery data. The complete coverage of the territory is expected to be updated ( at the first stage – of the Moscow Region territory) once every two weeks, which will allow us to track the changes taking place on the ground.
The portal can become a platform for communication of ordinary citizens who care about the state of their environment and the health of their children, as well as the territory of a dialogue between the authorities and citizens. The work of the “Space Watch” system is to be implemented in cooperation with the authorities to improve the speed and quality of response to the problems identified.
— We need to create a policy and a culture of open data handling in Russia, which will make the relationship between the society, the government and private companies as transparent as possible — assured Olga Gershenzon.
The success of the “Space Watch” project implementation is largely dependent on whether the concept of open data will start working at the federal level. Once again, we emphasize that the system of public space monitoring can illustrate how efficiently and useful open data can be for the good of the country and its citizens.
