The increased use of EO products for a variety of environmental applications has the potential to not only save money, but to save lives. Using data from satellite systems and other EO infrastructure can help decision-makers understand the most effective measures to mitigate natural disasters.

According to the partners behind the EOPOWER project, responses to everything from crop modeling to forest management, and from climate change to water management, could be improved by using EO. The purpose of the project is to create the conditions for sustainable economic development by increasing the use of EO products and services in environmental applications. The added value of EO in risk assessment and simulation models, forecasting and early warning, monitoring, damage assessment, and prevention and planning is undeniable.

Earth Observation involves the monitoring and/or study of an area, object or phenomenon, it includes using data collected by satellites but also in-situ observations on land, sea and in the air. It provides indispensable data to support informed decision making at local, national, regional and global level to reduce disaster risks, improve adaptation to climate change, better prepare for unavoidable losses and damage, and deliver on the promise of sustainable development. EO products range from simple Earth observation tools to complex satellite systems.

Building capacity for development

Raising awareness about the potential of Earth observation is crucial. Marketing comprises both promotion of its benefits and capacity building.

As an EU-funded Coordination and Support Action project, EOPOWER’s core activity is the marketing and promotion of EO products in areas of the world where their use can be better exploited. The project targets eight regions – Southern Africa, French-speaking Africa, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine, Turkey and Turkish-speaking countries, the Balkan region, the Black Sea region and Latin America and the Caribbean. The project team organised activities in each location: workshops, roadshows, the translation of material, and interaction with schools for various events. The team also facilitated collaboration between institutions.

EOPOWER builds on a number of previous projects that have promoted EO in various ways. The most notable of these is GEONetCab, which produced global and regional marketing studies, success story texts, marketing toolkits and valuable feedback from promotion activities and quick-win projects.

“EOPOWER didn’t start from scratch. This allowed the project and partners to benefit fully from the results and experience of several earlier EU/FP7 projects,” says Nicolas Ray, EOPOWER project coordinator from the University of Geneva. “For example, we have built on the previous GeoNetCab capacity building portal and developed the Earth Observation Capacity Building Portal (GeoCaB), which gives access to a catalogue of hundreds of capacity building resources on EO. GeoCaB is now the official GEO (Group on Earth Observations) portal for accessing capacity building material, and it greatly facilitates the discovery and use of such material.”

Among the project’s other outputs is a dedicated platform for the Black Sea catchment to extract hydrological data sets and models by country and river watershed. The project also helped move forward Georgia and Armenia’s applications to become GEO members.

The project’s last major task is a full impact assessment, due to be finalised in May. Says Ray: “Many activities in the project push for open access to data, tools and information related to EO. Previous studies have shown that benefits from the availability and sharing of public sector information can vastly outweigh the costs, notably through the creation of new market opportunities for the private sector.”