Using satellite data to enhance forest carbon accounts' resolution, boosting policy uptake.
About this good practice
Mainstreaming the mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services (MAES) in decision-making benefits from high-resolution monitoring. Combined with field-validated models, remote sensing images support natural capital accounting cost-effectively. São Miguel Island tests carbon sequestration in forests and bogs using advanced methods. Despite growing MAES knowledge, policy uptake is low. This project aims to enhance ecosystem data's spatial and temporal resolution, promoting better decisions and increased policy uptake.
Resources needed
Financial resources: 222.000€
Human resources: 39 Persons-month
Evidence of success
Despite growing scientific knowledge behind MAES, policy uptake remains low. This project aims to integrate MAES components (ecosystem extent, condition, services, and economic accounting) to enhance decision-making. São Miguel's test site showcases how improving spatial (10m) and temporal (near-real-time) resolution of ecosystem data (forests and carbon sequestration) leads to better decisions and increased policy uptake through real-life applications by downstream demonstration projects.
Potential for learning or transfer
Mapping ecosystems and their services is particularly challenging on small islands of the outermost regions of Europe compared to mainland continental areas due to several constraints, such as optical cloud cover, habitat uniqueness or high spatial heterogeneity. The wealth of datasets derived from freely available imagery from Copernicus is frequently missing or lacking for islands such as the Azores and significant adaptations to the local context are often required. The methods develop in São Miguel test site for mapping ecosystem extent, improving LULC classification, assessing forest condition, producing detailed habitat mapping (EUNIS level 3) and harmonizing with standardized EU-level typologies will be valuable for implementation of MAES in other insular regions facing similar constraints.
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