Beyond Forests: How New Innovations in Geospatial Monitoring Will Help Protect All Ecosystems

Protecting forests is critical, but meeting biodiversity, climate and sustainable development targets means preventing the loss of other valuable natural ecosystems as well.

Join this webinar to hear from experts from the NASA-funded OPERA project, the University of Maryland and Land & Carbon Lab as we discuss how innovative new geospatial monitoring solutions will inform more sustainable decisions about how to prevent the conversion of natural ecosystems while continuing to meet the world’s growing need for food, timber and other goods.

Hear about OPERA’s first-of-its-kind vegetation disturbance monitoring product (DIST-ALERT) that detects disturbances to any kind of vegetation cover, including forests, grasses, shrubs and even crops, occurring anywhere on Earth in near real-time. Plus, learn how this new system will fuel future conversion alert products that have the potential to track agricultural expansion into natural lands, detect logging and monitor changes such as drought and fire.

We will also be joined by our partners at the Accountability Framework Initiative, as well as a representative from Cargill, for a panel discussion about the importance of identifying critical natural ecosystems, the importance of setting ambitious targets for avoiding conversion and the role that geospatial monitoring will play in this.

This webinar will be held in English with live interpretation into French, Portuguese and Spanish.

The OPERA project is funded by NASA to address remote sensing needs identified by the Satellite Needs Working Group.

Speakers

• Craig Mills, Director, Land & Carbon Lab
• David Bekaert, OPERA Project Manager, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
• Matthew Hansen, Professor, University of Maryland, Global Land & Discovery Laboratory
• Sarah Carter, Research Associate, Land & Carbon Lab
• Leticia Kawanami, Sustainability Director at Cargill Agricultural Supply Chain, Cargill
• Leah Samberg, Lead Scientist, Accountability Framework Initiative

Photo credit: Maciej Czekajewski