Side Event

Space supporting the RIO (UNCBD, UNCCD, UNFCCC), World Heritage and RAMSAR Conventions

Organizer
European Space Agency

Date and Time
26 May 2008 13:15 - 14:45

Meeting
Ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 9)

Earth Observation (EO) from space provides the means to monitor globally trends in indicators of biodiversity over space and time. This side event highlights the overarching role of EO satellites providing critical information on benchmarks and indicators for the implementation of several United Nation treaties related to biodiversity issues - namely the Convention of Biological Diversity, the Convention of to Combat Desertification, the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Ramsar Convention. Several international initiatives will be presented demonstrating a number of geoinformation services based on EO-technology ranging from coral reef monitoring to global maps of land degradation and various essential climate variables. The users of the provided EO services range from the UN convention secretaries, international organisations (e.g. FAO, UNESCO, UNEP), international research programmes (WCRP, IGBP), national agencies to NGOs, who have also been strongly engaged in the development of the products.