Earth Observation for Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification within Environmental Land Management Policy

The main aim of the new agricultural scheme, Environmental Land Management, in England is to reward landowners based on their provision of ‘public goods’ while achieving the goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan and commitment to net zero emission by 2050. Earth Observation (EO) satellites appear to offer an unprecedented opportunity in the process of monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of this scheme. In this study, we worked with ecologists to determine the habitat–species relationships for five wildlife species in the Surrey Hills ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ (AONB), and this information was used to examine the extent to which EO satellite imagery, particularly very high resolution (VHR) imagery, could be used for habitat assessment, via visual interpretation and automated methods. We show that EO satellite products at 10 m resolution and other geospatial datasets enabled the identification and location of broadly suitable habitat for these species and the use of VHR imagery (at 1–4 m spatial resolution) allowed valuable insights for remote assessment of habitat qualities and quantity. Hence, at a fine scale, we obtained additional habitats such as scrub, hedges, field margins, woodland and tree characteristics, and agricultural practices that offer an effective source of information for sustainable land management. The opportunities and limitations of this study are discussed, and we conclude that there is considerable scope for it to offer valuable information for land management decision-making and as support and evidence for MRV for incentive schemes.

Managing Soil Organic Carbon for Mitigating Climate Change and Increasing Food Security

This Special Issue contains articles presenting advances in soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration practices, considering their benefits, trade-offs and monitoring. The studies deal with (1) agricultural practices and climate change, (2) the effect of organic matter amendments, and (3) the development of monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) strategies. It is concluded that region-specific approaches are required for the implementation and monitoring of SOC sequestering practices.

Towards agricultural soil carbon monitoring, reporting and verification through Field Observatory Network (FiON)

Better monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of the amount, additionality and persistence of the sequestered soil carbon is needed to understand the best carbon farming practices for different soils and climate conditions, as well as their actual climate benefits or cost-efficiency in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. This paper presents our Field Observatory Network (FiON) of researchers, farmers, companies and other stakeholders developing carbon farming practices. FiON has established a unified methodology towards monitoring and forecasting agricultural carbon sequestration by combining offline and near real-time field measurements, weather data, satellite imagery, modeling and computing networks. FiON’s first phase consists of two intensive research sites and 20 voluntary pilot farms testing carbon farming practices in Finland. To disseminate the data, FiON built a web-based dashboard called Field Observatory (v1.0, fieldobservatory.org). Field Observatory is designed as an online service for near real-time model-data synthesis, forecasting and decision support for the farmers who are able to monitor the effects of carbon farming practices. The most advanced features of the Field Observatory are visible on the Qvidja site which acts as a prototype for the most recent implementations. Overall, FiON aims to create new knowledge on agricultural soil carbon sequestration and effects of carbon farming practices, and provide an MRV tool for decision-support.

Monitoring Sanitation Campaigns: Targets, Reporting and Realism

Many governments in Asia and Africa have set ambitious target dates for their countries becoming open defecation free (ODF). Some have recently concluded national sanitation campaigns; a number of countries have campaigns underway; while others are in the conceptualising and planning process. Monitoring and reporting results is one of the key challenges associated with these campaigns. This Frontiers of Sanitation presents lessons learnt to date to inform ongoing and future government campaigns intended to end open defecation and improve access to safely managed sanitation. Firstly, we discuss campaigns, targets, monitoring, reporting, and verification arrangements, showing how these processes can be used to increase the credibility of national declarations and strengthen campaigns to respond to challenges. Secondly, we present case studies from India and Nepal, providing campaign-specific details from two recently declared ODF countries.

Monitoring Sanitation Campaigns: Targets, Reporting and Realism

Many governments in Asia and Africa have set ambitious target dates for their countries becoming open defecation free (ODF). Some have recently concluded national sanitation campaigns; a number of countries have campaigns underway; while others are in the conceptualising and planning process. Monitoring and reporting results is one of the key challenges associated with these campaigns. This Frontiers of Sanitation presents lessons learnt to date to inform ongoing and future government campaigns intended to end open defecation and improve access to safely managed sanitation. Firstly, we discuss campaigns, targets, monitoring, reporting, and verification arrangements, showing how these processes can be used to increase the credibility of national declarations and strengthen campaigns to respond to challenges. Secondly, we present case studies from India and Nepal, providing campaign-specific details from two recently declared ODF countries.

Overview of the new regulatory base for 2019–2020 on the decarbonisation of economy and its influence on the conditions of functconing of the ukrainian gas industry

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of the new Ukrainian and European regulatory framework for 2019-2020 concerning the decarburization of economy of the functioning of Ukrainian gas industry. The paper provides an overview of the Ukrainian regulatory framework of 2019–2020 on the implementation of the system of monitoring, reporting, and verification of greenhouse gas emissions in our country. We also provide an overview of new European documents on the decarbonisation of economy, in particular, the European Green Deal, the EU Strategy for Reducing Methane Emissions, and the Hydrogen Strategy for Climate-Neutral Europe. We showed that these EU documents will exert a significant influence on the functioning of both the energy sector of our country as a whole and its part – gas industry. The paper shows that, under the existing plans of the development of energy sector in European countries in order to reach the state where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 and under conditions of fierce competition for sources and routes of gas supply to the European market, the most pressing problem confronting the gas transportation system of Ukraine is to optimize its structure with simultaneous replacement of outdated compressor equipment by modern one with lower carbon dioxide emissions, which will require a significant amount of investment. Under such conditions, it is necessary to study carefully the feasibility of introducing activities for the main transportation of gas under the action of Greenhouse Gas Trading System. We also showed that the reduction of methane emissions along the natural gas chain supply in accordance with the EU Strategy for the reduction of methane emissions is extremely important for Ukraine. In addition to the implementation of measures for reducing these emissions, it is necessary to attract attention to the development of national methods for estimating methane emissions and the use of national coefficients in the formation of the National Greenhouse gas emissions inventory for estimating volatile emissions from natural gas activities. Keywords: monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions, Greenhouse Gas Trading System, decarbonisation, European Green Deal, gas transportation system

Nonverbal Communication of Supervisors in The Mentoring Thesis Process: Perceptions Of English Students

The study examines students' perceptions on the thesis mentoringprocess regarding their nonverbal communication patterns in the English studyprogram, FKIP of Halu Oleo University. The scope and focus are kinesics,proxemics, oculesics, chronemics, paralanguage, and physical appearance.Thisstudy apply a qualitative approach. The data obtained employing interview anddocumentation are then analyzed by Miles and Huberman's theory using reduction,reporting, and verification. The subjects of the study are eight graduated studentsand two students in the mentoring process. The study results shows that the sixtypes of nonverbal which are most likely to be experienced more often andinfluentially are ‘kinesics’, which is like the supervisor's attitude serving thestudents. Other nonverbal types continue to take on roles but are not as influentialas kinesics. This study reveals that the importance of communication is able toincrease student attention and motivation in constructing ideas gained from theirsupervisors when the communication process is going well and vice versa.