UNEP N eeds Needs for for LULC data and information

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "UNEP N eeds Needs for for LULC data and information"

Rudolph Fisher
6 years ago
Views:

1 UNEP Needs for LULC data and information By Ashbindu Singh Chief, Early Warning Branch UNEP Division of Early Warning& Assessment and Regional Coordinator UNEP Division of Early Warning & Assessment- North America Washington, D.C

2 United Nations Environment Programme UNEP was established in 1972 with the mandate: To keep under review the world environmental situation in order to ensure that emerging environmental problems of wide international significance receive appropriate and adequate consideration by governments. - UN General Assembly 1972

3 Rio+20 Out Come document and UNEP Promote a strong science-policy interface, building on existing international instruments, assessments, panels and information networks, including the Global Environment Outlook, as one of the processes aimed at bringing together information and assessment to support informed decision-making; Disseminate and share evidence-based environmental information and raise public awareness on critical as well as emerging environmental issues;; Provide capacity-building to countries, as well as support and facilitate access to technology;

4 UNEP Needs - Support to Global, Regional, National and Thematic State of environment reports; - Support global assessments i.e. IPCC, IPBES. GMA ; UN REDD+ - Support to Multilateral Environmental Agreements Aichi Target : Convention on Biological Diversity,2010) Protection of Natural Resource base: Reverse the loss of natural habitat by 2030 Annual report on The Status and trends of the Annual report on The Status and trends of the Natural Habitat

5 UNEP and Global Observing Systems Sponsor of - GCOS (WMO ) - GOOS (UNESCO- IOC) - GTOS (FAO) - Participating in GEO

6 What is in GEO-5? S T A T E A N D T R E N D S Drivers Atmosphere Land Water Biodiversity Chemicals and waste Earth system Africa Asia and the Pacific Europe Latin America and the Caribbean North America West Asia R E G I O N A L P O L I C I E S Scenarios and Sustainability Transformation G L O B A L R E S P O N S E S Global Responses

7 G l o b a l E n v i r o n m e n t O u t l o o k - 5 Over 500 MEAs adopted since 1972

8 Internationally agreed goals

9 Realization of goals how are we doing? Insufficient data / too soon to assess 14 goals Significant progress 4 goals Further deterioration 8 goals Some progress 40 goals Little or no progress 24 goals 90 international environmental goals and objectives assessed G l o b a l E n v i r o n m e n t O u t l o o k - 5

10 Summary areas with the least progress Climate change Desertification and drought Corals Ecosystem services Extinction risk of species Fish stocks Invasive alien species Marine pollution Natural habitats Species harvested for food and medicine Sustainably managed production areas Traditional knowledge Wetlands Indoor air pollution Extreme events Groundwater depletion G l o b a l E n v i r o n m e n t O u t l o o k - 5

16 WHAT What is happening where? WHY - Trend over time is the most compelling information - Hope images will contribute t to change the way we perceive the environment HOW Story of environmental changes told using current and historical Story of environmental changes told using current and historical satellite data, ground photographs and a short narratives

17 Over 200 Environmental Hotspots

18 What is the GEAS? The Global Environment Alert Service is: a mechanism for identifying, selecting and communicating E.W. information on emerging issues to decision-makers on a regular basis across UNEP s six thematic priority areas. GEAS continually scans the scientific literature and analyses results of EO and other data sources to produce policy-relevant, widely-distributed outputs, taking the pulse of the planet.

19 GEAS Monthly Bulletin - Sept. 2012

20 GEAS Sample Hot spots study Land use change on Mexico- Guatemala border area

21 Drying Lake Urmia, Iran Lake Urmia water level has rapidly declined since mid-1990s. The estimated surface area of the lake was 6,100 km 2 but the estimated area from satellite data is only 2366 km 2 in 2011 Decline of 3,734 Km2 UNEP Global Environmental UNEP Global Environmental Alert Service = downloads

22 Revitalised Land: Tahoua Province, Niger The intense pressure on fragile lands led to acute environmental degradation.(1975 image) More recently, different projects and farmers initiatives has led significant progress in the plantation and protection of trees.(2005 and 2009 image)

23 Recovery of Mabira Forest,Uganda Mabira Forest is now under threat from a plan of sugarcane production by clearing forest. Many environmental groups have opposed the move, citing the value lost in biodiversity, ecosystem services, timber production, eco-tourism, and carbon sequestration credits, which can be traded on the world market..

24 Components of UNEP Live (Web based platform) UNEP ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT REPORTS DATA AND INDICATORS NEAR REAL TIME ALERTS Statistical Data And Emerging Issues Spatial Data (Images, maps) Global Environmental Alert Service Environmental hot spots Citizens Observations Methodology SOE Live Li Dynamically updated Content on the State of Environment Tools Collaboration and Consultation Platform My Country Capacity building in all

25 CHALLENGES Collecting information about globally ll distributed ib t d targeted areas Maintaining regional and thematic balance Acquisition, analysis and packaging of satellite data in an user friendly format and integration with GIS Lack of operational monitoring systems

26 Grand Challenges: Communication issue: A Real Example Policy Maker s Question: How much forest are we losing and where? Conservationist Reply: Which definition of forest should we use? Technologist Query: Which satellite data you want us to use-- Landsat, MODIS, ASTER, etc?

27 MEDIUM FOR COMMUNICATION Magazines/ Scientific Journals Presentations ti Telephone Scientific Papers Facebook/Twitter.. Radio Books Web searches Talks/ Discussions s Newspaper TV

28 ACTIVE V/S PASSIVE USER ACTIVE V/S PASSIVE MECHANISM

29 Environmental Science... It is not only important information for people to come and see, it is important important t that t people did see & understand d Policy Makers and the Public

Global Environment Outlook 5 Environnent for the future we want

Global Environment Outlook 5 Environnent for the future we want International workshop on Strengthening Planning and Implementation Capacities for Sustainable Development in Post Rio Context 14-16 Nov