Biodiversity from Remote Sensing of Coastal Areas for Science and Societal Applications: User Requirements Synthesis and Preliminary Results

Abstract

The Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Decade of the Ocean have set targets to reaching ocean sustainability by 2050. To assess if these targets have been met, each target is linked to a set of indicators measuring Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV). Marine and coastal habitats are under threat through numerous anthropogenic stressors. At the same time, measuring indicators in the marine and coastal environment is costly, time consuming and unreliable due to weather conditions leading to a dearth of data in these areas. Satellite remote sensing is proposed as a tool to complement in-situ observations. It can measure some EBVs in a more consistent and reliable manner and increase the area covered as well as spatial and temporal resolution. However, due to the need for specific training and infrastructure to analyse raw remote sensing data, there is a need to understand the end users’ requirements to use such data for biodiversity monitoring. The European Space Agency funded Bi-COME project (Biodiversity of the Coastal Ocean: Monitoring with Earth Observation) aims to develop products that help measuring more EBVs more effectively and to involve stakeholders in the development process. To this end, we are collecting the user requirements of seven case study partners using semi-structured interviews. We aim to compare their current approaches with new Earth Observation products by learning about their current methods to measure EBVs, ask what they would like to achieve by the use of improved Earth Observation products and how they are able to access such data. The case study partners consist of managers and data providers to local environmental managers of intertidal, subtidal and pelagic marine habitats. The case study sites consist of sandy intertidal habitat in France, seagrass habitats in Mozambique and pelagic floating vegetation in India and the Caribbean Sea. We plan to interview the case study partners after they have tested the products created so that they can help shape the development according to their needs. This presentation will discuss results from the first set of interviews