RESEARCH
Global change, driven by growing population densities and rising economic production levels, is increasingly placing pressure on scarce land resources involved in the production of food and other ecosystem products and services. Adequate solutions to environmental challenges such as biodiversity loss, unsustainable food production systems, deforestation, overgrazing, landscape fragmentation, climate change, and the depletion and contamination of land and water resources require an integration of multiple perspectives and disciplines. Consequently, in the Department’s activities, there is an implicit focus on the role of people in the production landscape, as well as the sustainability of the landscape.
The aim of the Natural Resources Department is: To enable society to effectively develop and use geo-information and earth observation knowledge and technologies for agricultural and environmental sustainability. The Department’s expertise is in the use of earth observation data and spatial information in combination with systems modelling, geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS). These information sources and methods are used in novel ways to understand and characterise, the processes that affect the availability, stability, quality and sustainability of natural resources. The outputs of our research lead to better monitoring and managing of natural resources that enable or facilitate their sustainable use, development and restoration under global change.
GIS and RS play a central role in the search for clear analyses and viable policies (from local to international) to support sustainable natural resources management. The focus of the Department is in defining both the means and the measurements which are essential for monitoring trends, tracking changes and enabling action to sustain biologically diverse environments and productive agricultural systems.
For more information please visit this link : FORAGES research theme site
The Department develops new methods in GIS and RS in order to disentangle complex relationships in the natural world. In particular we focus our method development on:
- the use of RS imagery from new sensors including hyperspectral, hyper-temporal, LIDAR, SAR, high spatial resolution imagery and where appropriate, ‘historical’ data sets;
- algorithms for mapping and monitoring the status and changes in biodiversity, food production, biomass, land use/land cover, and forest resources, and;
- modeling the biophysical environment and human interactions.
Research Application Areas These methods are applied in the following areas:
- Monitoring essential biodiversity variables (with an emphasis on ecosystem structure and function, species traits, species populations and community composition);
- Monitoring agriculture (focusing on food system production, health and access);
- Forest and carbon monitoring;
- Ecosystem services (focusing on improved spatial information for natural resource management);
- Environmental assessments, impact assessments and sustainability assessments for policy support, decision making and certification, and;
- Early detection of stresses in natural and managed ecosystems.
In an international context, the Department directly contributes to three Societal Benefit Areas (SBA) within GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems); Biodiversity, Agriculture and Ecosystems, and indirectly contributes to others (e.g. Water and Disasters). Staff are active in several GEO Flagships including GEOBON, GEOGLAM and RAPP, with an emphasis in our target geographies of developing countries. These contributions provide methods and information to support the baselines and assessments of multiple international convention targets and intergovernmental bodies including:
- UNFCC REDD+ [the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation];
- CBD [the Convention on Biological Diversity] Aichi Biodiversity Targets;
- IPBES [the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services], and;
- SDGs 2 and 15 [the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals].
In a national context, the Department collaborates with NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) such as the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), networks such as the ISCC [International Sustainability & Carbon Certification] system, the agricultural research centres of the CGIAR and the private sector (e.g. insurance and micro-finance companies).
