With a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural population of about two million people, the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. Novi Sad, its administrative centre, is the second largest city in the country.

While Novi Sad is heading towards recognition as a regional leader in the IT industry, Vojvodina’s economy mainly relies on agriculture and agribusiness.

The challenge

The Vojvodina Province is particularly affected by the phenomenon of stubble burning, a common practice in cultivated fields in Serbia, which threatens the health and safety of the territory.

In 2019, around 19.000 open fires were recorded in Serbia. 14 people died because of them and 40 were injured. The fires burned low vegetation, but also damaged forests, meadows, orchards, cereals, and vineyards.

To discourage farmers from burning the remains of their crops, the province’s public authorities need precise and reliable information on the location of this practice.

The satellite solution

With the support of the BıoSense Instıtute, UNDP Serbia created a web GIS portal to detect open fıres usıng data from Sentınel-2 satellites.

By comparing two consecutive images, one before the fire occurrence and the other after the fire, an algorithm detects the areas where fires happened and the potentially burned areas. These spots are visualised on an interactive web map that is made openly and freely available to the public: the Portal for Mapping Harvest Residues (www.dim.rs/#/dashboard).

The map was funded by UNDP Serbia through the “Challenge call for innovative solutions to reduce air pollution in Serbia and improve air quality”.

The results

The portal is used by the UNDP, research institutes and local administrations to raise the awareness of people, farmers in the first place, about the threats posed by stubble burning. Moreover, the portal allows the government to detect stubble burning and to undertake evidence-based actions against this practice.

In the Vojvodina Province, the methodology used to develop the portal was tested during three months (from September to November 2020), spotting over 9.000 parcels that were subject to crop residue burning.

On dim.rs, fires are classified according to the dates on which they occurred and cadastral information. The webGIS portal also contains statistics on fire occurrence history that is available for download, and information for citizens on how to report illegal burnings.

Users can know which areas are the most affected by crop residue burning and in which periods of the year. Altogether, this information enables local administrations (such as police forces, firefighters and forest authorities, among others) to be better prepared to the occurrence of stubble burning, to target awareness raising campaigns, to better plan in-situ inspections, and to sustain law enforcement.

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DSE-Data Science Experts is a company created in 2020 and focused on building products and solutions based on Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Based in Grenoble, France, the company today employs 11 people. The team’s vision is to help insurance companies to better support the agriculture sector in times of natural disasters.

The challenge

According to the World Meteorological Organization’s Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes, the number of disasters related to a weather, climate or water hazard has increased by a factor of five between 1970 and 2019 globally. Agrıculture is among the sectors that are affected the most by climate-related disasters.

To establish mechanisms, and in particular insurance schemes, to support the recovery of agricultural activities affected by disasters, there is a growing need for data and information to foresee and assess such damages.

The satellite solution

AIperion is a system, developed by DSE, that estimates the damage affecting agricultural fields, identifies the boundaries of flooded and burned areas, and detects the extent, impact and duration of droughts based on extreme weather events or natural disasters.

The system is based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied to Earth observation images to identify and detect the boundaries of flooded and burned areas. It integrates meteorological data from the MSG mission (Meteosat Second Generation satellites) to detect the intensity and duration of extreme weather events.

AIPerion relies on data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 missions to calculate vegetation indices and estimate agricultural damage.

These analyses are combined to produce an assessment of the level of damage to the crops and of its causes. The results are provided to customers through a dashboard, in the form of maps and figures.

The results

By integrating Copernicus data into their software, DSE can provide precise information on the crops’ health and determine if the damage to crop reported by farmers is a consequence of natural disasters and not of fraud attempts.

Moreover, based on the information provided by DSE, insurance companies can determine the premium to be paid for crop losses caused by natural disasters.

Under the request of one insurance company, using this system DSE was able to map 80% of cultivated fields on the French territory to detect the growth status of vegetation. That was made possible thanks to the high temporal resolution of the Copernicus data and could not have been done by using in-situ surveying techniques.

Using free and open Copernicus data, DSE can provide its services at a much lower cost than the price that they would ask if they used other paying satellite data. As a result, after only one year of existence, the company can count some of the world’s biggest insurance companies among their customers.

In 2020, the AIPeiron system has been awarded the Copernicus Masters Prize for France.

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Castilla–La Mancha is a Spanish autonomous community located in the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula’s Inner Plateau. The community occupies an area of 79,463 km2, including over 3.5 million hectares of forests, which represent 13% of the whole Spanish forests.

INFOCAM, integrated in the Regional Department of Sustainable Development, leads the integral management of forest fires in Castilla-la Mancha. INFOCAM performs its tasks in coordination with all the departments of the Government of Castilla-La Mancha, with local and provincial entities, and with the companies and private owners that are involved in sustainable rural development.

The Analysis and Planning Unit (UNAP) of INFOCAM issues periodical forest fire risk reports, that are used to enforce preparedness and response to forest fires.

The challenge

In the summer of 2021, major forest fires led to both ecological and economic losses in Spain. Of all Spain’s regions, Castilla-La Mancha is the one with the most municipalities in high fire-risk areas, with a total of 780.

To limit the damage of fires on forests and take better preventive measures to avoid them, INFOCAM needs to monitor the conditions of the vegetation, as vegetation stress makes it prone to combustion, due to drought and high temperatures in summer or freeze in winter.

The satellite solution

Copernicus provides data on vegetation related to phenology, photosynthesis activity, and vegetation stress.

INFOCAM uses data from Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 satellites to estimate the density of green in the region and the amount of green and alive elements of the vegetation. This information is important to know the amount of vegetation that could be available for potential fires and is crucial to reduce uncertainty, especially with regard to emergency preparedness.

The results

The maps and the data concerning the forest fire risks are provided to the stakeholders through a web-GIS (Geographic Information System) and daily reports that are distributed to the entities in charge of managing forests and fire risks.

Remote sensing data provided by Copernicus represent a crucial tool to support fire services before the fire season starts and enable them to activate resources and procedures.

During emergencies, when fires are being managed, the satellites provide fire managers with information about the spatial distribution of the fire risk that is useful to design operational plans for fire extinction.

Based on the information on the fire risks contained in the maps, the region can increase or move resources (e.g., helicopters, fire engines and fire brigades) from prevention tasks to firefighting tasks in time.

Moreover, combined with wind and meteorological data, the maps allow for the forecasting of fire spreads into nearby areas.

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Port-la-Nouvelle is a French town in the Occitanie region, in the south of France, on the Mediterranean coast.

The historic port of Port-la-Nouvelle extends over 2.5 kilometres, and it represents a major economic asset in the area. Owned by the Region, it includes a commercial port, a fishing harbour, and a marina. The Chamber of Commerce of Aude is responsible for its daily management. This commercial port has historically specialised in the import of oil and the export of cereals.

The challenge

In 2018, the Occitanie region decided to start important works to adapt the commercial port of Port-la-Nouvelle to new traffics and allow for the development of new sectors.

Notably, the regional plan foresees the installation of floating wind-turbines and the creation of a green hydrogen production plant as from 2024. These works are part of a regional policy that aims at combining the economic development of the region with the valorisation of its environment.

Carrying out the works around the harbour implied dredging, which could bring back to the surface sediments on the seafloor, hence endangering the marine environment and the natural areas nearby.

To guarantee that the port expansion works were carried out sustainably, the Directorate for the Sea needed a reliable water quality monitoring system in the area of the works.

The satellite solution

i-SEA- a company based in Aquitaine, supported the port authorities to monitor water turbidity nearby the works, by using data from the Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 Copernicus satellites. The satellites provided data on water turbidity in the past and the near future.

Before the works started, satellite imagery allowed I-SEA and the Region to better understand the hydro-sedimentary processes of the site of Port-la-Nouvelle. During the works, the data contributed to in-situ monitoring, by providing a big  picture of water turbidity levels and a forecast of the turbidity levels expected within the next three days.

The results

Thanks to the Copernicus data, it was possible to avoid damage to the nearby natural areas and to prevent the infiltration of a turbid plume in the nearby pond of Bages Sigean.

The predictive method provided the personnel responsible the works in the Region with daily objective tools to monitor the impact of the expansion of the port on water turbidity and to adapt the works according to the forecasted turbidity levels.

In 2024, the commercial harbour of Port-la-Nouvelle will welcome the first floating wind turbines in the Mediterranean Sea. This operation is part of a regional strategy to achieve sustainable development in the littoral by using technology to boost the local economy, while safeguarding the environment.

“We do our best efforts to ensure that economic development is based on the safeguard and valorisation of the region’s natural resources”. Benjamin Grente, Directorate for the Sea, Occitanie Region.

READ THE FULL STORY: Monitoring water turbidity in Port la Nouvelle

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BlackShore is a company founded in 2011 by Hans van’ t Woud and hosted by the ESA Business Incubation Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Currently, BlackShore delivers accurate, up-to-date and low-cost map products and data labels based on the crowd-sourced interpretation of satellite data and aerial imagery to map what matters most in the world.

The challenge

As the region of the world that is the most affected by water scarcity, Africa has such a growing population that about 230 million Africans are expected to face water scarcity, and approximately 460 million could be living in water-stressed areas by 2025 [1].

Recognised as a human right in 2010 and 2015, access to safe drinking water and sanitation remains fundamental to the lives of all human beings and the issue is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [2].

Climate change exacerbates water scarcity, while also endangering the sustainable provision of food all over the world, including in the Mediterranean region. In this area, cereals and wheat are strategic products for agricultural development, food security, and agricultural trade.

However, and especially following the Ukrainian crisis, the cereal production deficit in the region could worsen in the next twenty years (Ukraine is one of the big cereal exporters to the region and in Middle East countries) [3].

To stay at the forefront of innovation, BlackShore decided to build an interactive platform which would combine e-learning, gaming and crowdsourcing to solve global issues, for example improving management of water and food.

The platform needed to create a playful and stimulating environment that would attract players and enable them to empower their skills while arousing their curiosity.

The solution

BlackShore developed Cerberus, an online gaming platform using very high resolution satellite images (currently down to 30-cm resolution data) to zoom in the surface of the Earth as a key resource.

The game teaches players how to identify and map pre-defined features such as obstructed roads, flooded zones, or clear-cut areas. Working with satellite images to make useful operational maps for organisations such as governments, urban planners or emergency services gives players a sense of purpose, in addition to being fun.

BlackShore uses a combination of commercial satellite data and open and free Sentinel data as a layer in their games. Players can navigate the surface of the Earth to spot, report and share relevant information.

Missions displayed around the world in BlackShore’s Cerberus Game.

BlackShore teaches players what to look for to map and tag in the hexagons. The inputs of players are compared to verify the accuracy of the information collected.

Hexagons as displayed in BlackShore’s Cerberus Game.

One of the games on Cerberus, “The path to a well”, has been developed with the AKVO Foundation to favour access to drinking water in Mali.

Based in the Netherlands, the Foundation works on water-related issues in the African continent. In Mali, they worked with Uduma, an African NGO, to install water pumps within the framework of a project funded by the African Development Bank.

BlackShore helped the AKVO Foundation to acquire information on fresh water sources and to map the infrastructure between water source and communities, like farms or roads.

Players created two referable maps using very high-resolution satellite data in which they could detect objects of 50 centimetres to distinct walking paths from roads which can have vehicles. This information was later used to calculate travel times between water source and livelihood.

Another project hosted on the Cerberus platform and recently launched aims at mapping cereal production in the Mediterranean Region of Europe.

In a sequence of 20 maps, BlackShore will take up the crowd in a journey from east to west and ask them as a primary target to focus on Durum (pasta) cereals. Moreover, players will be also asked to map other crops, infrastructure and features based on the region of the Earth that they are zooming in. These include Lavender from the Provence, ruins in Greece, energy grids in Spain and mines in the Marche.

The project will measure the impact of climate change on durum cereal production in Italy, France, Spain, Greece and the Mediterranean islands.

To enable players to map cereal production, BlackShore has produced labelled training data to be used in conjunction with Sentinel-2 and (optionally) Sentinel-1 data down to a 30-centimetre resolution on the entire Mediterranean area.

Through the inputs of the players, the Artificial Intelligence model embedded in the game will progressively learn to distinguish crops in different environments autonomously and will generate data labels of the crops and infrastructure in the entire area.

The project is a joint operation of BlackShore, 52 Impact B.V., and The Hague Center for Strategic Studies, and it is supported by the European Space Agency (The ESA Φ-lab).

The results

In Mali, the Cerberus’ players mapped an area of approximately 10 square kilometres, detecting potential fresh water sources and providing data that were used by local actors to build and maintain water pumps.

For their new “mission” to map cereal production in the Mediterranean area, in 2022 only, BlackShore plans to create 20 maps of durum cereal crops using very high-resolution data and data labels for the different crops.

The maps generated through the game will be made openly available for researchers, NGOs, and governmental institutions to take measures to ensure food security.

Indeed, the project will generate a data label set allowing researchers to build models to automatically monitor how Durum cereals are affected in a changing world. This knowledge shall be used to better anticipate the effects of climate change on crops and to take measures to mitigate them. All generated labels will be also shared through ESA’s AI4EO Initiative.

Currently, BlacksShore’s Cerberus  community is about to overcome 100 000 players, based in almost every country of the world and ready to take action to contribute understanding and solving some of today’s’ most pressing issues.

Most players like playing BlackShore’s games on their phones, but they can also be played on iPads and computers.

By combining satellite imagery and gaming, BlackShore is demonstrating that everyone can learn to identify features on satellite imagery if properly trained, and it is opening the path to innovative uses of EO to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

REFERENCES

[1] The Africa Water Vision for 2025: Equitable and Sustainable Use of Water for Socioeconomic Development, UN Water/Africa. Accessed on 21 June 2022.

[2] UN World Water Development Report 2019: ‘Leaving no one behind’, 2019. Accessed on 19 June 2022.

[3] Food security: Challenges and perspectives in the Mediterranean region, PRIMA, 29 June 2022. Accessed on 10 June 2022.

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The enterprise

Wasat Ltd. offers services based on processing of satellite data, as well as usage of GIS and IT systems, and participates in scientific and commercial projects related to satellite positioning and navigation. Most of the company’s customers are entities related to agriculture and environment protection but its services are also utilised by representatives of other sectors, for example by archaeologists.

The challenge

Optimal nitrogen fertilisation of crops remains a key issue in agriculture. Applying this mobile nutrient both at the right time and in the appropriate dose is essential for proper yields.

Crops’ demand for nitrogen depends on many different variables, such as the plants’ condition and phase of vegetative development, but also on meteorological conditions. Deficiency of nitrogen will result in, among others, poor growth, yellowing of leaves, reduction of tillering and finally lower yields. On the other hand, excessive nitrogen application results in greater risk of winter damage, lodging, diseases and late maturation.

At the same time, excessive fertilisation of fields with nitrogen causes unnecessary financial costs. Applying it while neglecting to supply other important ingredients – such as phosphorus and potassium – results in deterioration of soil parameters and properties. Moreover, nitrogen fertilisation is an area regulated by law, subject to the control of specialised institutions.

The satellite solution

In order to respond to the need of optimising the use of nitrogen fertilisers, Wasat carried out the FertiSat project, supported by the European Space Agency. The project led to an online platform for agricultural producers. This tool enables the creation of application maps for variable nitrogen fertilisation dedicated to different crops, mainly cereals.

Multispectral imagery acquired by the European satellites Sentinel-2 is the source of input data for the system to work. Satellite images allow to define current plants’ condition and field differentiation using vegetation indexes right when the specific image was captured. While determining the desirable nitrogen dose for a given fragment of the field not only the crops’ actual condition and nutritional status are taken into account but plants’ growth stage, soil and weather conditions as well. Additionally, what distinguishes the service is the use of surface runoff model which enables to consider the soil moisture and nitrogen mobility on the fields.

FertiSat is mainly used for the crop management of cereals such as: wheat, rye, triticale and barley. It is important to emphasise that this online tool allows to adjust the proper dose of the fertiliser to particular phases of the vegetative development of a given crop species.

The results

The FertiSat platform supports users in the management of the agrotechnical treatment on their farms. In particular, utilising the service facilitates their decisions regarding the application of nitrogen and the implementation of fertilisation in accordance with the legal requirements. Thanks to the use of the online tool the whole process of fertilisation becomes much more effective and is perfectly adjusted to the topographic conditions and soil moisture as well as the current condition of crops.

The proper utilisation of the FertiSat service allows to reduce the use of fertilisers by approximately 10%, making it possible for farmers to significantly increase the profit per hectare. The beneficiaries of the solution include farms producing cereals, farmers’ associations and some other entities operating in the vast agricultural sector, for example producers and distributors of agrochemicals and of agricultural machinery.

The generated fertilisation maps are compatible with all types of controllers in sprayers and spreaders of fertilisers. The user also gets access to meteorological forecasts and a simplified nitrogen balance calculator. Satellite crop monitoring is possible throughout the whole growing season: farmers can constantly analyse the conditions on their fields on both computer and mobile device screens.

“Making use of satellite remote sensing in precision agriculture turned out to be a perfect path towards success for our company. It enabled us to gain satisfied customers, obtain growing revenues and have some positive environmental impact.” – Bartosz Buszke, CEO of Wasat.

The online platform is available here: Fertisat.com

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The Institute of Oceanology- Polish Academy of Sciences

The Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences was founded in 1983. Its mission is to seek, understand and communicate the scientific understanding of the marine environment and the issues related to its preservation and sustainable use of marine resources. The main geographic areas of interest of the Institute are the Baltic Sea and the seas of the European Artic.

In its work, the Institute aims at carrying out innovative, high-level scientific and technological research by providing expertise and new technologies targeting both the broader public and public and private stakeholders. In particular, the Institute carries out research in the fields of climate change, changes to the coastal ecosystems and marine biotechnology.

The challenge

Each of the nine different countries located on the coasts of the Baltic Sea has different economic and security priorities. Actions taken on one side of the coast may cause damages also on the other side of the coast, like the spread of industrial pollutants or wastewater from agricultural activities into the sea. Having knowledge of the marine environment and of the changes taking place is vital for reconciling the needs of the public and private stakeholders from different countries operating on the Baltic Sea in the fields of shipping, fishing, extractive industry, sewage, energy, maritime construction, recreation, among others. Furthermore, a comprehensive overview of the area is also fundamental to protect endangered species of marine plants and animals.

The satellite solution

In 2015 the Institute of Oceanology launched the the SatBałtyk system, a satellite-based platform for monitoring the Baltic Sea environment in near real-time retrievable online. The platform features satellite data from multiple sources covering a time span of 20 years, as well as data collected through in situ instruments, oceanographic databases, and mathematical models. The platform offers the users – from public authorities responsible for maritime affairs, environment, and trade to private entities and researchers – a set of information based on eight parameters (atmosphere and meteorology; hydrology; ocean optics; solar radiations; seawater components; phytoplankton; coastal zones; hazards). Such data are then available on the online tool in the form of coloured maps where each colours illustrate the distribution of values for different factors within the entire Baltic area. Examples of characteristics for which the maps are generated are water salinity, water temperature or the direction and velocity of sea currents in the Baltic Sea.

Since 2015, the platform has been providing reliable information to ensure the protection of marine resources and its sustainable use. The platform features satellite data from multiple sources covering a time span of 20 years, including Landsat 8, Pleiades-1B, TerraSar-X, Sentinel-3A, CryoSat-2, and Metop-B, as well as data collected through in situ instruments, oceanographic databases, and mathematical models.

The results

The SatBałtyk platform tool aims at providing public and private entities as well as researchers with data on the multiple characteristics of the Baltic Sea, such as information on sea water temperature, salinity, the blooms of poisonous algae, or the appearance of pollution spots, including oil stains.

The platform is available and retrievable for free. The data available on the platform as well as the cartographic representations are downloadable.  The tool has been created to facilitate the daily work of employees at national and local level responsible for the exploitation and protection of the Baltic area. In particular, the Polish Navy relies on the platform to collect information for the planning and execution of offshore activities. Widely retrieved by Polish authorities, such as the Ministry of State Assets or the Marine Office in Gdynia, in the period 2019-2021 over 120 thousand people used the tool and downloaded the digital maps.

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The Public Service of Wallonia

Wallonia is one of three regions of the federal state of Belgium, alongside Flanders and the Brussels-Capital Region. Located in the southern part of the Country, Wallonia covers 55% of Belgium and hosts one third of the Country’s population.

The Public Service of Wallonia (PSW) is in charge of implementing the policy of the Walloon region and it is the primary interface between the regional institutions and the local administrations and citizens of Wallonia. The PSW employs around 10 000 people in its central department of Namur and the decentralised departments in Wallonia and Brussels.

The challenge

In recent years, most of the competences related to territorial management in Belgium have been delegated to the governments of the three regions. This means that a number of users of geospatial data are now situated at the regional, provincial and municipal levels.

For Wallonia, the Geomatics department of the PSW is in charge of harmonising territorial data collection and distribution, and of facilitating data acquisition and use by the region’s public and private institutions. To comply with the EU INSPIRE Directive, the Team needs to acquire precise, accurate and easily updatable information, including data on land cover (LC) and land use (LU). Indeed, such data are of paramount importance for Walloon administrations, which use them for climate reporting, flood mapping, land take monitoring, forest management, agriculture planning, and land visualisation, among others.

Until 2017, the existing land cover and land use (LCLU) map of Wallonia was derived from cadastral and agricultural information but did not allow users to distinguish information on LC from information on LU.

The satellite solution

In 2017, the Public Service of Wallonia launched a project to produce new maps of LCLU for the whole regional territory based on annual aerial photos and time series of satellite imagery. The maps were built within the framework of the WALOUS project (Wallonia Land Cover and Use) funded by the PSW and realised by three research units from the Free University of Brussels, the Catholic University of Louvain and the Scientific Institute of Public Service (ISSEP).

The WALOUS maps’ specifications resulted from a large consultation of the regional stakeholders (public administrations, universities, city administrations and some private companies).

The maps integrate the latest georeferenced data on the whole Walloon territory.  Manmade assets, such as buildings and infrastructure, are classified in the WALOUS land use map very precisely by using the sub-metric resolution of orthophotos, digital elevation models and other geodatabases, while vegetation and rural areas are better distinguished thanks to seasonal information from decametric satellite imagery (from the European satellites Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2). The algorithm producing the final maps integrates all data collected to characterise the different classes.

The benefits

The satellite-based maps produced within WALOUS are made available online and can be consulted by all interested organisations and individuals for free, offering a tool to better understand the regional territory.

View of the Semois river – On the left, the land use map. On the right, the land cover map. (Source: WALOUS storymap: https://geoportail.wallonie.be/walous, Powered by Esri)

The land cover (LC) map highlights the physical and biological coverage of the territory, allowing for the identification of natural features, such as trees, waters, shrubs, and grassland, as well as manmade assets, e.g. buildings, rails, routes, and infrastructure. The LC map provides information that can be used by public administrations and private actors to facilitate decision-making. As an example, the Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment of the PSW uses the map to support farmers in making their declarations, while the Walloon Air and Climate Agency (AWAC) uses the information to estimate greenhouse gas emissions.

The land use (LU) map details the uses of the regional territory. Indeed, a parcel occupied by trees can correspond to several purposes, for example a residential garden, a recreational area or a natural area. The WALOUS map classifies land uses under different categories: primary, secondary, or tertiary production, transport networks, logistics and public utility networks, residential use, natural areas and other uses. Sub-categories are also available to get more insights into land uses. The land use map is used by the Walloon administrations for several purposes, e.g. to update the regional flood hazard map and assess the potential damage associated with flooding and to manage and monitor the inventory of abandoned sites to be requalified.

According to the user survey, the required update frequency of the maps is every two years, and in 2020 a procurement process was carried out to perform a first update of the map to monitor changes in land cover.

“Combining aerial and satellite information and distinguishing land cover from land use in two different maps changed the use of LULC maps in Wallonia, while allowing the PSW to respond to the EU INSPIRE directive requirements. Moreover, the frequent revisit of input data allows the PSW to plan regular updates of the maps, which is required for statistical and decision-making purposes”. Nathalie Stephenne, Geomatics Department, Public Service of Wallonia

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Located in Northern Serbia, the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is home to around 2 million inhabitants. A nexus of plains, major international rivers, embankments, pumping stations and canals, water is an essential element for socio-economic development here as over 7 000 water structures contribute to the region’s strong agriculture sector.

PWMC Vode Vojvodine is responsible for managing water resources in Serbia’s Northern Province. A public-private company, their portfolio includes monitoring water supplies for navigation, irrigation, fisheries, and protected areas. In addition to overseeing the region’s flood and drainage systems, their mandate also includes monitoring water pollution levels.

The challenge

Three major rivers irrigate the region’s plains: the Danube, the Sava and Tisa. Located on surface of the former Pannonian Sea, the region also feature 600 km of navigable canals. Drainage was historically needed before most of the province could be inhabited and make way for agriculture land. This has resulted in a complex network of canals and rivers whose upkeep is paramount to agricultural production. And the large numbers of waterways makes in-situ monitoring a prodigious task for PWMC Vode Vojvodine. Especially since many are difficult to access.

Whilst vital for the region’s economy, the intricate waterways networks make the region also highly prone to flooding events. More than 80% of Vojvodina region is threatened by inland waters. In May 2014, extensive floods hit the entire western Balkans causing 2,000 landslides across the region and considerable economic damage. These events highlighted the need for ‘fast’ satellite images that could show the state of the flood areas in almost real-time.

The solution

Informational needs in water management require the use of modern technologies. In 1991, the company was among the first in the former Yugoslavian countries to start using a geo-information system (GIS) for water management. At the time, this was used to manage the Drina River dams. Revealing economic and time management benefits, the company continued to add to their satellite data use as the rich information obtained from the data allowed them to stay on top of monitoring the region’s 22,000 km of canal networks and their associated risks. In addition to the free satellite image services provided by ESRI which have been in use for many years, PWMC Vode Vojvodin also acquired additional ad-hoc recordings during floods or droughts.

The result

Since setting up its first GIS system, the company has continued to expand its practice and use of geo-information data. To complement and improve on-site management, PWMC has also started to use GPS connected UAVs five years ago. During the 2014 floods, UAV data and the satellite enabled geo-location information they provided has been used along with satellite imagery to locate and map certain hydrological parameters.

Equipped with multispectral cameras, these can be a major operational advantage to analyze water flows and obtain high-resolution imagery on an ad-hoc basis and on short distances. Notably, in emergency and time-sensitive situations. Today the company’s online GIS system merges data from the Serbian Water Directorate and Hydro meteorological services together with in-situ information. In the future, the company aims to extend the portal and share data with other public, local enterprises, state and provincial institutions.

Further development of water management cannot be imagined without the use of modern satellite and UAV identification and mapping technologies, which is why our focus is on the development of these technologies, as well as the technology for rapid and precise forecasts of hydrological and hydraulic phenomena

Ratko Bajcetic, PhD PWMC Vode Vojvodine

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Romania is home to two thirds of the last old growth forest in Europe. The Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests (MMAP) is the central public body tasked with protecting the country’s shrinking 6.4 million hectares of forest. Within the Ministry, the Department of Forests is responsible, among other tasks, for planning and implementing forest-related policies in compliance with Romanian and EU legislation.

The challenge

The Carpathian Arc contains the largest contiguous forested region in Central Europe covering 27% of the country’s surface. Romania’s forests are home to almost half of Europe’s wild population of brown bears, wolves and lynx. Yet, the equivalent of three football fields filled with trees is disappearing every hour.

Up to 50% of the exploited wood in Romania is the result of illegal logging. According to Green Peace Romania, a total of 45 509 cases of illegal logging were registered between 2013 and 2014. Beyond the environmental damage and loss of habitat for wildlife, illegal logging translates into financial losses for government agencies. Romania, which is among Europe’s main timber producers, is estimated to have lost €52.1 million in 2013-2014 due to illegal forest cuts.

The satellite solution

In 2014, to fight illegal cutting and curb losses, the government first instituted a mandatory digital tracking system for trucks transporting wood. The system, which assigns a number to each logging operation, tracks everything from how many trees are being cut, to their pickup and delivery locations. Even the truck drivers are registered in the system. However, the GPS data records proved insufficient to curtail legislation breaches. To bypass the system, truck drivers would use fake GPS loading points. According to the Environmental Investigation Agency, nearly half of the GPS loading points analysed in a month’s time appeared to be fake.
To add an additional control, the Ministry turned to TerraSigna, a GIS service provider, and a team of volunteering IT specialists. They created “Inspectorul Padurii” (The Forest Inspector).

‘The Forest Inspector’ is a geographic information system that can ingest radar and high resolution satellite images from Sentinel 1 & 2, Landsat, OpenStreet and Google Maps. The software then scans successive images of the same areas to identify changes in the forest cover that indicate where logging has taken place. The data is refreshed every two to seven days (depending on the satellite crossing), which enables authorities to become aware of any illegal logging in almost real-time.

The satellite based map is further enriched with information coming from the government’s digital database and tracking system. Such information can include: who has permits to cut what and where, what the truck’s license plate number is, and when the logging took place. Protected areas are also monitored through the platform. In addition, the map can be used to identify fake GPS loading points, faster.

The result

Following the launch of the Forest Inspector in July 2016, the online platform and the mobile versions have been accessed by approximately one million users. Due to its multi-level access feature, both police and individuals can see who is doing the cuts, what type of wood is being cut, where and when. Thus, the platform brings together citizen activism, technology and authorities in the fight against illegal deforestation.

The successful implementation of the online portal has encouraged the team of volunteers involved in the project to look beyond Romania and extend its use to other countries and for other uses. The system could potentially present any other type of information, such as on waste management sites and wetlands, depending on user needs.

Thanks to a continuous stream of satellite data, public authorities are now better equipped to track illegal deforestation in almost real-time while empowering citizens to join in the fightBogdan Micu, Advisor, Ministry of Enviroment, Waters and Forests

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