Why geospatial data is invaluable in finding solutions to climate change

For example, geospatial data helps with identifying the optimal location for a wind farm, and can improve the generation of renewable energy and modelling of flood risks to certain areas, in order to allow for accurate planning decisions for resilient housing. Positive strides like these can be made with accurate and up-to-date geospatial data, but the potential of geospatial data for sustainability has not yet been fully realised.

This year, the national delegations of all UN member states, together with accredited NGOs and civil society will come together in Glasgow for the 26th session of the UN Conference of the Parties for Climate Change (COP26), to agree on the action required to secure global net zero and a sustainable future beyond.

Meeting Net Zero with the power of place will be the main subject of discussion at a major online event to coincide with COP26.

‘Space and Geospatial Virtual Pavilion for COP26 is an online event taking place between 1-11 November 2021, bringing together more than 30 partners from across the world who are involved in the space and geospatial sectors.

It’s a project led by KTN, an organisation which connects ideas, people and communities to drive positive change through innovation.

The curators of the event, Luca Budello and Andy Bennett – the Geospatial and Space Leads at KTN respectively – said there were a number of reasons to organise this event, with the main one being the opportunity for collaboration.

“It’s not only a key theme of COP26, it has been identified as one of the priorities for our members and stakeholders if we are going to drive the change required to meet net zero emissions targets,” Luca said.

In collaboration with 30+ partner organisations KTN’s virtual pavilion will explore the role of innovation, inclusive growth, collaboration and cultural change in dealing with the climate emergency, using the power of place. “As many of the space or geospatial companies have not been able to travel to COP26 in Glasgow, this will be the authoritative event representing this sector during the conference,” Luca added.

“We want to actively measure our ability to change the perception of the role of space and geospatial companies in working collaboratively to tackle the climate crisis. It’s a wonderful ecosystem with a huge variety of technologies, talent and ideas.

“We believe that understanding our planet is an inherently geospatial exercise. Location intelligence is actually key business intelligence that will allow organisations to monitor, adapt and become resilient to climate change. Space and geospatial data have already played a key role and will continue to be essential for monitoring climate change.”

The virtual pavilion, which will include 11 days of events, including plenary sessions, parallel sessions and keynotes, will target a variety of people, from entrepreneurs and data experts to policy professionals and students. It will address the role of space and geospatial data in many different sectors including infrastructure and construction, finance, transportation and mobility, natural resources, defence, energy systems and next generation services.

“We anticipate that this event will appeal to anyone with an interest in climate change, sustainability, and future shaping technologies,” Luca said.

“So many people want to be part of the COP26 conversation and understand the role that space and geospatial play in finding solutions to specific economic verticals in line with the decarbonisation and net zero agenda. Many of these people would have come to Glasgow if it weren’t for the Covid-19 pandemic and all its associated restrictions and concerns.”

KTN’s previous experience of hosting online events around major publications, such as The Power Of Place, which was published earlier last year, means that the organisation has attracted a wide number of collaborators already and has an engaged online community.

“We know how to reach audiences that are both general and specialist,” Luca said.

“We will promote this pavilion widely, but we can also access more niche communities for the specific sessions. We have extensive networks in the UK around transport, built environment and finance, for example, and expect to reach over 80,000 people in the KTN network alone. We will use our European Programmes and Global Alliance activities to target audiences beyond the UK too.”

The attendance data from the Power of Place webinar series earlier this year showed the success of this approach. 80% of the attendance was made up of individuals who did not consider themselves ‘geospatial professionals’, proving the cross-sector reach of KTN.

In addition to the programme of events, a virtual exhibition space will accompany the wide variety of content in order to provide a selected number of exhibitors the opportunity to build a virtual booth. This will be supported with online tools to enhance engagement with the audience.

“We know many people have had to reconsider their travel plans in light of the pandemic,” Luca said. “We want to do as much as we can to recreate the experience in our online pavilion. We intend to include filmed interviews with delegates and stakeholders from Glasgow’s SEC to enrich the conversation. We’re even working on a podcast series and  a thought leadership publication to capture the conversation and take forward actions from the floor.”

The pavilion will open on 1 November and during the first nine days there will be sessions showcasing use cases of space and geospatial data supporting climate action. The content will be extremely varied and cover topics associated with the COP presidency programme,  including the FAIR Climate Service by Open Geospatial Consortium and The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Indigenous Alliance programme.

There will be sessions on the resilience of energy systems, decarbonisation of ports, a pitching session showcasing up and coming start-ups seeking investment, student-led sessions from the National Environment Research Council-funded SENSE Earth Observation and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Geospatial Systems CDTs.

KTN’s partners will also be launching various reports including the GHG Monitoring capability from space report from WGIC, GEO and others.

On the final two days, 10 and 11 November, the virtual pavilion will culminate with a plenary session showcasing the challenges related to tackling climate change, as well as  seven parallel sessions covering themes on transport, cities, finance, science and innovation, adaptation and nature.

“In delivering this programme of activities we aim to work collaboratively with other organisations in the space and geospatial community and beyond,” Luca said.

“We are collaborating with key sector organisations including our delivery partners: UK Space Agency, Geospatial Commission, Satellite Applications Catapult, Location Data Scotland, Scottish Space Leadership Council, Association for Geographic Information, UKspace and others to bring the pavilion to life.

“We are also delighted to have some key commercial partners to support the programme including ESRI, GHGSat, AAC Clyde Space, SparkGeo and SatelliteVu.

“We are also welcoming our partners who will support us with outreach and engagement activities: the World Geospatial Industry Council, Group on Earth Observations, Open Geospatial Consortium, ESA, UKRI, Innovate UK, Ordnance Survey, BARSC and the Space Academic Network.

“Lastly, our media partners –The Herald, Geospatial World, AstroAgency and Room – are supporting us by amplifying our and our partners’ voices.”

Registration for the event is open, go to www.ktn-uk.org/geospatial/ to find out more.

Understanding the local economy in warzones

How did the Taliban take control of Afghanistan so quickly? One piece of research from the Overseas Development Institute, commissioned by Alcis, used high-resolution satellite images and targeted fieldwork to conduct detailed geospatial analysis over time and space. This allowed the authors David Mansfield and Graeme Smith to gain a more comprehensive understanding of resource flows, Taliban movements and activities across Nimroz, a strategic province in south-west Afghanistan bordering Iran and Pakistan.

The research revealed the importance of control over cross-border trade to the overall balance of power in the country, and the prospects for an enduring peace. The authors studied the main sources of funds for different conflict actors in what became the first provincial capital to be taken by the insurgents following the withdrawal of American and allied troops.

First, the research findings showed that ‘taxes’ from trade in both legal and illegal goods far outweighed the funding from international donors that has been trickling down to remote provinces. In Nimroz, informal taxation by both sides of the conflict, raises about $235 million annually, compared with less than $20 million of investment and aid flowing into the province from Kabul.

While Nimroz is a market hub for the processing of opiates, ephedrine and methamphetamine; the value of trade in legal goods passing through the province far surpasses that of illegal drugs.

Second, the report’s findings emphasised the importance of economic rather than political motivations in explaining the incremental victories of the Taliban. Rather than aiming to simply control more landmass, it appears the group was primarily concerned with the funds that could be collected by seizing key sites along roads and highways.

Third, the research method was highly innovative and is replicable globally. They drew upon very high-resolution satellite imagery and targeted fieldwork to conduct detailed geospatial analysis over time and space in order to map the chain of revenues and rents along transport corridors.

This method has wider application for the design of taxation, fiscal and anti-corruption strategies, as well as a check on the accuracy of government revenue statements and potential revenues across all Fragile and Conflict Affected States.

The big picture: Satellite Applications Catapult NEW geospatial projects

THE Satellite Applications Catapult is supporting a number of projects, including ForestMind and Common Sensing.

ForestMind is a service that will provide actionable insight for a sustainable forest-commodity future, validating and changing sourcing decisions and guiding supplier development to reduce deforestation. It combines knowledge and expertise from agricultural and sustainability specialists, Earth observation data, and isotopic analysis to help food retailers and producers eliminate products that have caused deforestation from our food supply chains.

Common Sensing is funded by the UK Space Agency’s International Partnership Programme and has the ambition of enabling improved access to Earth observation data to support the governments of Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu in their efforts to build resilience to the devastating impacts of climate change and improve access to climate finance.