Earth observation for sustainable urban planning in developing countries: needs, trends, and future directions

Abstract: Cities are constantly changing and authorities face immense challenges in obtaining accurate and timely data to effectively manage urban areas. This is particularly problematic in the developing world where municipal records are often unavailable or not updated. Spaceborne earth observation (EO) has great potential for providing up-to-date spatial information about urban areas. This article reviews the application of EO for supporting urban planning. In particular, the article overviews case studies where EO was used to derive products and indicators required by urban planners. The review concludes that EO has sufficiently matured in recent years but that a shift from the current focus on purely science-driven EO applications to the provision of useful information for day-to-day decision-making and urban sustainability monitoring is clearly needed

Local impacts of biofuel crop production and factors influencing ethanol stove adoption in southern Africa

The datasets contain information about the local impacts of biofuel feedstock production and the factors influencing the adoption and/or sustained use of biofuel stoves in southern Africa. To elicit the impacts of feedstock production we undertook extensive household surveys around four operational jatropha and sugarcane production sites in Malawi, Mozambique, and Swaziland. The selected sites reflect the most prominent feedstocks (i.e. jatropha, sugarcane) and modes of existing or intended biofuel feedstock production in Africa. We focused on impacts related to rural livelihoods, ecosystem services, food security and poverty alleviation. To capture the factors that influence the adoption and sustained use of biofuel stoves we focused on the sole large-scale ethanol stove dissemination programme in Africa, in Maputo city. The aim of this interdisciplinary project is to provide clear empirical evidence on whether, and how, biofuel production and use can improve human wellbeing and become an agent of poverty alleviation in African least developed countries (LDCs). Understanding the environmental impact of biofuel production is a pre-requisite for understanding the true human wellbeing and poverty alleviation effects of biofuel expansion in Africa. In order to answer these questions we conducted five case studies in Malawi, Mozambique and Swaziland. Between them these case studies reflect the main modes of biofuel production and use encountered across southern Africa. The comparative analysis of their performance provides important insights for the poverty alleviation potential of these diverse biofuel strategies in Africa least developed countries. </p