Towards a roadmap for space-based observations of the land sector for the UNFCCC global stocktake
Osamu Ochiai, Benjamin Poulter, F. Seifert, Stephen Ward, Ian Jarvis, A. K. Whitcraft, Ritvik Sahajpal, Sven Gilliams, Martin Herold, Sarah Carter, Laura Duncanson, Heather Kay, Richard Lucas, Sylvia Wilson, Joana Melo, Joanna Post, Stephen Briggs, S. Quegan, Mark Dowell, Alessandro Cescatti, David Crisp, Sassan Saatchi, Takeo Tadono, Matt Steventon, Åke Rosenqvist
Abstract
Space-based remote sensing can make an important contribution toward monitoring greenhouse gas emissions and removals from the agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) sector, and to understanding and addressing human-caused climate change through the UNFCCC Paris Agreement. Space agencies have begun to coordinate their efforts to identify needs, collect and harmonize available data and efforts, and plan and maintain a long-term roadmap for observations. International cooperation is crucial in developing and realizing the roadmap, and the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) is a key coordinating driver of this effort. Here, we first identify the data and information that will be useful to support the global stocktake (GST) of the Paris Agreement. Then, the paper explains how existing and planned space-based capabilities and products can be used and combined, particularly in the land use sector, and provides a workflow for their harmonization and contribution to greenhouse gas inventories and assessments at the national and global level.