Transcript Free Earth Observation Data on a Global Scale: A View from

FAPESP 50 Years Symposium, 2011
Land Use and humanenviroment interactions in
Amazonia
Gilberto Câmara
National Institute for Space Research
(INPE)
Energy
Agriculture
Ecosystems
Space technology adds value to Brazil´s natural
knowledge economy
Megacities
Climate change
Weather and natural
disasters
World Research Centers: Impact and Visibility
INPE: only Brazilian institute in top 40
Source: Cybermetrics Lab, Spain
Nature, 29 July 2010
ICSU “Grand challenges”
Improve the usefulness of
forecasts of future
environmental conditions and
their consequences for people.
Develop, enhance and
integrate the observation
systems needed to manage
global and regional
environmental change.
Determine what institutional, economic
and behavioural changes can enable
effective steps toward global sustainability.
ICSU “Grand challenges”: a bit of ancient wisdom
Be careful what you wish for….
The challenge: reducing deforestation
Impact of land change in Brazil’s emissions
Earth observation satellites are essential for
measuring land change
Medium-resolution (5-50 m) earth observation
satellites data are global public goods
How does deforestation happen?
T1 – Selective logging
T2 – Loss of smaller trees
T3 – Loss >50% of forest
T4 – Loss >90% of forest
INPE’s Monitoring
Systems
time
dialy deforestation
alerts
Yearly rates of
clear cuts
Floresta
Real-time Deforestation Monitoring
Daily warnings of newly deforested large areas
Result: major reduction in deforestation
Markets? Credit crunch? Coercion? Institutional
arrangments?
Markets have a positive rôle
Policing actions: illegal wood seizure
50% of operations in 2% of the area
Transparency builds governance!
CBERS image
Degradation
Deforestation
Science (27 April 2007): “Brazil´s monitoring system is the envy of
the world”.
Keep watching!
Jan-April/2011: 126% increase
Deforestation hotspots: March-May 2011
Deforestation hotspots: June-August 2011
“By 2020, Brazil will reduce deforestation
by 80% relative to 2005.” (pres. Lula in
Copenhagen COP-15)
Market impact of deforestation reduction in Brazil
Avoided def Brazil
2005-2020
4,9 Gt CO2eq
EU-15 reduction 2005-2020
20% of 1990 levels
7,7 Gt CO2eq
From 2005 to 2020, avoided deforestation by Brazil would be 2/3
of the total proposed EU-15 cuts
What happened with 720.000 km2 deforested?
First map of land use and land cover of Amazonia
Agriculture (grains)
Cleared pasture
Degraded land
Class
Clean Pasture
Secundary Vegetation
Dirty pasture
Regeneration with pasture
Non-observed areas
Agriculture (large-scale)
Small farms and settlers
Urban areas
Mining
Degraded areas
Others
Desflorestation 2008
TOTAL
TOTAL (km2)
335.714,94
150.815,31
62.823,75
48.027,37
45.406,27
34.927,24
24.416,57
3.818,14
730,68
594,19
477,88
11.458,64
719.210,99
46,7%
21,0%
8,7%
6,7%
6,3%
4,9%
3,4%
0,5%
0,1%
0,1%
0,1%
1,6%
Prediction?
The Brazilian Amazon has different institutional arrangements that
influence the spatial and temporal patterns of deforestation.
Governing the commons:
institutional arrangments
[Ostrom, Science, 2005]
Institutional analysis in Amazonia
Identify different agents and try to model their actions
Field work
Urban networks
Land change patterns
Land change models
Current situation in Amazonia
Tension between different ways of access to market and
natural resources, land tenure regimes (private and
public/collective) and political forces.
Araújo e Aguiar (forthcoming)
Landscape model: different rules of behavior at different
partitions which also change in time
SÃO FÉLIX DO XINGU - 2006
FRONT
FRENTE
MIDDLE
MEIO
BACK
RETAGUARDA
Forest
River
Deforest
Not Forest
Full and open access to space-based information is
indispensable for global sustainable development
“A few satellites can cover the entire globe, but there
needs to be a system in place to ensure their images
are readily available to everyone who needs them.
Brazil has set an important precedent by making its
Earth-observation data available, and the rest of the
world should follow suit.”
RIO-92 Declaration – principle #10
Environmental issues are best handled with
participation of all citizens.
Each individual shall have appropriate access to
information concerning the environment.
RIO + 20: bulding on principles from RIO-92
We need a new convention on the public
availability of environmental information
Thanks to INPE’s team
Deforestation and land cover monitoring:
Dalton Valeriano, Claudio Almeida, Luiz Maurano,
Isabel Escada, Silvana Amaral, Mauricio Silva

Land change modelling and institutional analysis:
Ana Paula Aguiar, Roberto Araújo, Pedro Andrade,
Luciana Soler, Talita Assis, Sérgio Costa, Patrícia
Pinho
