Satellite remote sensing, environmental quality, and human health and wellbeing

This chapter reviews how satellite data can provide key information relevant to efforts to improve human health and wellbeing. It first discusses how satellite remote sensing can be used to track, predict, and manage vectorborne disease such as malaria, dengue fever, and trypanosomiasis. The second section of this chapter focuses on the use of satellite data to monitor air quality, looking at how satellites can help (1) track air pollution associated with the release of harmful substances into the atmosphere through human activities, such as nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs); (2) detect and forecast outbreaks of airborne substances that trigger an allergic reaction, such as pollen grains; (3) assess emissions from volcanic eruptions; and (4) monitor dust storms in space and time. The third part of this chapter explores how satellite data can be used to report on water quality, detailing how these data can be used to predict and manage harmful algae blooms and to study eutrophication. The fourth section addresses satellite remote sensing in the context of human wellbeing, highlighting how satellite data can be used to estimate economic welfare and poverty, and how this information can be used to test various hypotheses pertaining to the role of greenness in determining various aspects of our physical and mental health.

Satellite remote sensing and anthropogenic pressures on biodiversity

This chapter explores how satellite remote sensing can be employed to monitor a wide range of anthropogenic pressures which affect species and ecosystems, in both terrestrial and marine systems. First, it reviews the literature on the use of satellite data to monitor deforestation and forest degradation. It then explores how these data can be used to monitor fragmentation, which is another form of habitat degradation that can represent an important threat to the preservation of biological diversity. This is followed by a review of the use of satellite remote sensing information to monitor urbanisation, night-time light pollution, oil exploration and exploitation, mineral extraction activities, oil spills and run-off, and illegal fishing. The chapter concludes by discussing opportunities for satellite remote sensing to monitor and predict the impact of climate change on biodiversity.

Satellite remote sensing and natural disturbances

This chapter provides an overview of how satellite remote sensing can help map the occurrence, and risk of occurrence, of several environmental disturbances; assess the extent of the associated damages; and monitor the recovery of the areas impacted by these disturbances. It particularly focuses on floods, wild fires, droughts, frost, extreme winter warming events, infestations and blooms, and bleaching events, as these are all well-known natural disturbances likely to change in frequency of occurrence and intensity over the coming decades. Through the use of examples, this chapter demonstrates how the utility of satellite remote sensing resides in the ability it provides to separate and characterise (i.e. through form, intensity, and trajectory) disturbances and responses at various spatial and temporal scales, thereby facilitating ecological knowledge expansion and the identification of relevant management actions. In particular, this contribution shows how satellites offer multiple opportunities to gain accurate information on the location, spatial extent, and duration of disturbances at the continental scale, which is needed to evaluate the ecosystem impacts of land cover changes due to, for example, wild fire, insect epidemics, and flooding, thereby reducing uncertainties in our ability to model global carbon budgets.

Satellite-based monitoring of biodiversity

This chapter explores how satellite information can help track biodiversity at multiple spatial scales and resolutions. To attempt to capture the various organisational dimensions of biodiversity, the chapter focuses on six classes of variables: genetic structure and composition, species populations, species traits, ecosystem extent and structure, ecosystem composition, and ecosystem functions. From helping map species and ecosystem distribution to supporting the monitoring of ecosystem composition, structure, and functioning, this contribution provides a series of examples that demonstrate how satellite remote sensing can open multiple opportunities for various stakeholders to improve on the management of wildlife. The chapter concludes with a discussion on limitations and possible ways forward.

Satellite remote sensing and the management of wild species and habitats

This chapter discusses how satellite remote sensing may support efforts to re-establish functional ecosystems worldwide, by exploring how this technology can support the implementation of various actions linked to this specific environmental management goal. The first part of this chapter explores how satellite information can be used to inform translocation programmes: for example, by helping to identify suitable habitats where individuals can be moved. The second section discusses satellite imagery in the context of site selection for restoration projects and the monitoring of restoration target. The third section of this chapter focuses on the identification of corridors using satellite remote sensing techniques.

Understanding satellite remote sensing

This chapter seeks to provide a quick introduction to satellite remote sensing. It starts with a set of definitions, thereby to explain the differences between Earth observations, remote sensing, and satellite remote sensing. It then goes on to describe how satellite remote sensing works, and what the differences between passive and active sensors are. An introduction to the main sensors currently on board active civilian Earth observation satellites is provided, together with details on their key specifications. The complex nature of satellite data, as well as the tools required to manipulate and analyse them are discussed. The chapter ends with a presentation of the main issues to be aware of when dealing with satellite data, and a look at the coming sensors and datasets that will soon expand opportunities for satellite data to inform environmental management.

Satellite remote sensing in the policy sphere

This chapter focuses on the interface between satellite remote sensing and policy relevant to the management of natural resources, looking at ways for this technology to support decision making at the national to international scale. First, it briefly introduces (1) the main international conventions that are relevant to the management of natural resources and that could easily benefit from an increased consideration for satellite remote sensing technology, and (2) the main platforms facilitating the integration of satellite remote sensing data at the convention level. Second, it introduces the most popular conceptual frameworks that are being considered to help coordinate and structure natural resource monitoring efforts worldwide, namely the essential biodiversity variables framework, the biodiversity indicators framework, the ecosystem services framework, and the natural capital accounting framework. The final part highlights current challenges and lists a series of possible ways forward.

Future directions and challenges ahead

This final chapter is dedicated to discussing possible new ways forward, aiming to highlight future opportunities and challenges likely to be connected with the continued development of remote sensing technology and associated algorithms to manipulate, visualise, and interpret satellite data. The first section discusses future directions in remote sensing, looking at upcoming sensors and expected benefits for the environmental management community; introducing the concept of big data analysis and its potential to drive a step-change in analytical processes; and detailing upcoming opportunities associated with the rise of nanosatellites and unmanned aerial vehicles. The second part of the chapter focuses on upcoming opportunities associated with the use of satellite remote sensing data for natural resource management, discussing how satellite data could support the development of rewilding as an alternative to traditional biodiversity conservation approaches; the assessment of collapse risk for ecosystems around the world; ecosystem accounting initiatives; and the enforcement of environmental policy at multiple scales. The third part details the challenges associated with building a consensus on how to prioritise satellite missions and data collection; and reflects on upcoming issues related to validation, capacity building, and scale. The chapter ends with a general conclusion that summarises some of the key principles that underpin the future success of satellite remote sensing in environmental management.

Satellite remote sensing to support agriculture and forestry

This chapter presents a comprehensive overview of how satellite data can be used to support agriculture and forestry. The first two parts explore how satellite imagery can be used to monitor forests and crops, looking at opportunities to track changes in parameters such as tree height, tree ring width, and tree mortality from space, and reviewing how satellite data can be used for crop phenology and crop disease monitoring, as well as for crop yield measurements and predictions. The next sections focus on satellite remote sensing as a way to improve practices, discussing how satellite remote sensing technology can provide information on soil properties and inform management through the assessment of plant physiological status. The chapter concludes by discussing the role of satellite remote sensing in the context of precision farming and sustainable land use, and its possible contribution toward developing management practices at the field level to maximise economic output and to reduce adverse impact on the environment.

Satellite remote sensing and the management of protected areas

This chapter explores how satellite-based approaches can be used as a cost-effective method to support monitoring efforts of protected areas, offering a cheap, verifiable way to identify areas of concern at a global scale, and to support managers in their effort to design and apply adaptive management strategies. Because protected areas can differ in terms of management needs and landscape/seascape access, the chapter starts with a quick introduction to categories of protected areas. Where to set new protected areas is one of the key questions faced by decision makers in need of meeting current biodiversity targets, and the second part of this work explores how satellite remote sensing can inform such a choice. Climatic conditions can significantly impact protected areas’ biodiversity, and the third section of this chapter briefly assesses common ways to derive information about local climatic anomalies from satellite data. The last sections of this chapter discuss the use of satellite data to assess effectiveness, and introduce the Digital Observatory of Protected Areas.