This is a past event.

Science-Based Assessments and Indicators for Climate Change Mitigation, Adaption, Verification, and National Planning: The Case for Remote Sensing to Monitor Climate-Smart Agriculture

Many climate change mitigation, adaptation, and national planning efforts have been focused on human management of forestry and agriculture in lower income countries. For more than a decade, international programs and projects have relied on satellite-based estimates of forest cover, loss, and gain to reduce emissions through deforestation and degradation (REDD), with a large in situ verification component. In the last few years, a research and international development shift towards climate-smart agriculture and the impacts of climate change on food security has called into question the validity and efficacy of remote sensing for establishing science-based assessments and indicators for smallholder farms, given the success of satellite-based REDD+ monitoring in the same lower income countries. This talk is focused on a new UN Environmental Programme initiative to reduce the short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) of CH₄, O3, hydroflourocarbons (HFCs), and black carbon (BC) via introduction of climate-smart agriculture techniques across South Asia, Southeast Asia, South America, and West Africa. In particular, given the needs to accurately monitor smallholder agricultural activity like irrigation, rice paddy expansion, and open burning, how can remote sensing be reliably used to support verification of mitigation, adaption, and national planning of climate-smart agriculture and reduction of SLCPs?

Part of the 2016 Earth Planetary and Space Sciences Institute (EPSSI) Seminar Series

Annual seminar series on topics related to Earth Planetary and Space Sciences and course UN 4000 REMOTE SENSING.

Seminars are open to everyone.

Course registartion open to all juniors, seniors and grad students!