Space4Climate and Defra deliver key COP28 discussion to highlight the role of information from space in climate action, now and in the future
Vital information about our climate, observed in detail from space, has the power to drive the actions we desperately need to heal our planet but it needs to be made more accessible. That was the strong message delivered by our expert panel as COP28 negotiations began their final phase in United Arab Emirates (on Sunday, December 10th, 2023).
The fast-paced discussion brought together influential speakers from diverse interest areas and they all agreed that without improving accessibility, valuable climate data from space cannot reach its potential in addressing climate challenges through either policy or commercial routes.
The event took place in the UK Pavilion in the Blue Zone – COP’s designated area for negotiators and national delegations – and was presented by The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and Space4Climate.
It was chaired jointly by Prof Gideon Henderson, Chief Scientific Advisor to Defra, and Yana Gevorgyan, Director of GEO (Group on Earth Observations) Secretariat.
Potential of space to support climate goals
Prof Henderson opened with the potential of information from climate satellites to better achieve biodiversity and global climate goals.
Ms Gevorgyan stressed the need for equity in data and in solutions and for interoperability of climate data from space.
Marco Lambertini, International Special Envoy for WWF (World Wildlife Fund) commented that nature is at its highest position on agendas, which makes its accessibility so important. He said: “Nature is higher in political and business agendas like never before in its contribution to humanity. In the last few years there has been a sea change in the way we look at nature,” adding: “We have a moral duty to co-exist with the rest of life on Earth, to recognise the material significance of nature. It has triggered a gold rush for data.”
Dr Grethel Aguilar, Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, spoke next. She called for the organisations represented on the panel to lead the way in convening a ‘network of networks’ to address the challenges in data access for all, picking out marine environments as a particular area where there are knowledge gaps, and being able to work with indigenous peoples.
Recognising the role of Earth Observation
Prof Heiko Balzter, of the National Centre for Earth Observation and Director of the Institute for Environmental Futures at the University of Leicester, put the focus on measuring the world’s forests, saying that despite huge attention given to biomass at COP26 in Glasgow, we are ‘still some way away’ from fulfilling the commitment made there. He referenced the European Space Agency’s Climate Change Initiative Biomass Project to provide publicly accessible global biomass maps for 2005/7, 2010, 2015/16 and annually for 2017-2022, and the award-winning Forest Alert System that he led, which supplies detailed satellite images so quickly that it has enabled illegal loggers to be apprehended in the act. He told the audience: “It’s important to recognise the role that Earth Observation can play, it’s a key ingredient in tackling climate change and in restoring and protecting nature.”
Adding the role that the upcoming Biomass climate satellite will play, he said it would be his ‘dream’ to see combined standards for biodiversity monitoring and credits and carbon monitoring and credits.
‘Real need’ to make data more available
Space4Climate’s Vice Chair Donna Lyndsay, who is Strategic Market Lead for Environment and Sustainability at Ordnance Survey, said: “We have been seeing a real need and demand for getting climate data and nature data out and available.” She added that the community needs to support external organisations, outside the silos of the space sector, to be able to find trusted datasets from space and to ‘really understand’ them. She praised the UK Space Agency for demonstrating the need to standardise this information and said: “The UK Government is investing in providing Earth Observation data right across the UK. Globally space agencies are starting to ask ‘How can we work collectively to provide it?’ Collectively we have a duty to make it easier for people. It is an unresolved problem at the moment, but it is something we are working on.”
Dr Aguilar reiterated the value of space-sourced climate information for indigenous peoples, saying: “They are the custodians who live with 80% of the biodiversity of this beautiful planet … people need this information to claim their rights to what they are protecting.”
Access to climate data is critical
Wrapping up the hour-long discussion, Prof Henderson concluded: “Access to data and bringing together different sources of data, is absolutely critical.” And bringing the debate back to the title of the event, Ms Gevorgyan concluded: “The real value [of climate data from space] will be realised by people using it.”
Prof Henderson then announced UK support of £150,000 for the GEO Earth Observation project, Global Ecosystem Atlas which aims to protect 30% of Earth’s land for nature by 2023.