EO4EU cited as a potential contributor to climate change response in Italy - ministry report
The AI-augmented ecosystem for Earth Observation data accessibility with Extended reality User Interfaces for Service and data exploitation project (EO4EU) has been cited as one of the international programs Italy participates in to leverage EO data for a greater response to the consequences of climate change.
EO4EU appeared in the report of the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security released the Eighth National Communication under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change covering the current state of risks and adopted measures.
This is highly relevant as climate change projections place Italy as an area of increased vulnerability with high likelihood of natural hazards and extreme temperatures.
To address the climate change effects and identify comprehensive adaptation measures, Italy adopted policies and measures in line with international agreements set under the Kyoto Protocol and Doha amendment.
In addition, targeted efforts have been put in place to promote the development of scientific knowledge and advanced technologies to tackle climate change and ensure sustainable mitigation actions. As stated in the report, land and ecosystem monitoring plays an fundamental role in the research domain.
In addition to developing a national satellite earth observation system and implementing domestic measures, several Italian actors participate in international programs aimed at leveraging EO data to improve decision-making in regards to climate change adaptation. The EO4EU project is listed as one of the initiatives that contribute to the analysis of the impacts of climate change, as well as to the development of mitigation and adaptation technologies.
The Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change (CMCC) is one of the major Italian research initiatives involved in climate change observation. Among the multiple international projects on climate change prediction it is part of, CMCC participates in the EO4EU project.
Within EO4EU, CMCC contributes to two use cases focused on soil erosion and forest ecosystems. The first one aims to produce an updated, high-resolution and cutting-edge service for the evaluation of soil erosion, while the second one is centred at assessing forest ecosystems thanks to the EO4EU platform.
Not only the exploitation of earth observation data through the tools developed within the EO4EU project will provide wider access to major European EO data pools, but it will also enable evidence-based decision-making and planning process.
