Igol version 3

Integrated Global Observing IGOS-P-14-bis

Strategy Partnership, Doc. No. 02/14bis

14-bis IGOS Partners’ Meeting, Item No. 3.0

Cape Town, South Africa,

27 November, 2007.

Theme Report – Integrated Global Observation of Land

SUMMARY AND PURPOSE
IGOS-P-14 invited the Land Theme Chair to revise the Land Theme Report based on comments received at IGOS-P-14 and submit the revised report to IGOS-P-14-bis for review and approval.

ACTION PROPOSED
Partners are invited to consider the report and to provide final approval at IGOS-P-14bis .





INTEGRATED GLOBAL OBSERVATION OF LAND

An IGOS-P Theme

2007

The support of the following sponsors is gratefully acknowledged: European Space Agency, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, the National Remote Sensing Center of China, the United Nations Environment Program and the United States Geological Survey.

Citation of this report should use the following:

Townshend, J.R., Latham, J., Arino, O., Balstad, R., Belward, A., Conant, R., Elvidge, C., Feuquay, J., El Hadani, D., Herold, M., Janetos, A., Justice, C.O., Liu Jiyuan, Loveland, T., Nachtergaele, F., Ojima, D., Maiden, M., Palazzo, F., Schmullius, C., Sessa, R., Singh, A., Jeff Tschirley, J. and Yamamoto, H. (2007) Integrated Global Observation of Land: an IGOS-P Theme.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 9

2. The needs for IGOL 11

2.1. Agriculture 11

2.2. Forestry 11

2.3. Land degradation 11

2.4. Ecosystem goods and services 12

2.5. Biodiversity and conservation 12

2.6. Human health 12

2.7. Water resource management 12

2.8. Disasters 12

2.9. Energy 13

2.10. Urbanization: sustainable human settlement 13

2.11. Climate Change 13

3. Stakeholders for GLOBAL Land Observations 14

3.1. Governmental stakeholders 14

3.2. International initiatives 14

3.3. NGO’s 15

3.4. Science 15

3.5. General public 15

3.6. Private sector 15

3.7. Engagement of stakeholders 15

4. Products and observables 16

4.1. Land cover 16

4.1.1. Observation needs and technical requirements 16

4.1.2. Current status 17

4.1.3. Current plans 17

4.1.4. Major gaps and necessary enhancements 18

4.1.5. Product-specific critical issues 18

4.1.6. Principal recommendations 19

4.2. Land use, land use change 19

4.2.1. Observation needs and technical requirements 19

4.2.2. Current status 20

4.2.3. Current plans 20

4.2.4. Major gaps and necessary improvements 20

4.2.5. Product-specific critical issues 21

4.2.6. Principal recommendations 21

4.3. Forests 21

4.3.1. Observation needs and technical requirements 22

4.3.2. Current status 22

4.3.3. Satellite-based observations 22

4.3.4. In situ observations 23

4.3.5. Major gaps and necessary enhancements 23

4.3.6. Principal recommendations 23

4.4. Biophysical properties relating to ecosystem dynamics 23

4.4.1. Observation needs and technical requirements 24

4.4.2. Current status 24

4.4.3. Major gaps and necessary enhancements 25

4.4.4. Principal recommendations 26

4.5. Fire 27

4.5.1. Observation needs / technical requirements 27

4.5.2. Current status of satellite-based monitoring systems 28

4.5.3. Major gaps and necessary enhancements 28

4.6. Biodiversity and conservation 30

4.6.1. Observation needs and technical requirements 30

4.6.2. Current plans 31

4.6.3. Major gaps and necessary enhancements 32

4.6.4. Product-specific critical issues 32

4.6.5. Principal recommendations 32

4.7. Agriculture 33

4.7.1. Observation needs and technical requirements 33

4.7.2. Current status 34

4.7.3. Current plans 35

4.7.4. Major gaps and necessary enhancements 35

4.7.5. Product-specific critical issues 35

4.7.6. Principal recommendations 36

4.8. Soils 36

4.8.1. Observation needs and technical requirements 36

4.8.2. Current status 36

4.8.3. Current plans 36

4.8.4. Major gaps and necessary enhancements 37

4.8.5. Product-specific critical issues 37

4.8.6. Principal recommendations 37

4.9. Human settlements and socio-economic data 38

4.9.1. Observation needs and technical requirements 38

4.9.2. Current status 39

4.9.3. Current plans 39

4.9.4. Major gaps and necessary enhancements 40

4.9.5. Principal recommendations 40

4.10. Water availability and use 41

4.10.1. Observation needs and technical requirements 41

4.10.2. Current plans 42

4.10.3. Major gaps and necessary enhancements 43

4.10.4. Principal recommendations 43

4.11. Topography 43

4.11.1. Observation needs and technical requirements 43

4.11.2. Current status 44

4.11.3. Current plans 44

4.11.4. Necessary improvements and major gaps 44

4.11.5. Product-specific critical issues 45

4.11.6. Principal recommendations 45

5. Integration issues 46

5.1. Validation and Quality Assessment 46

5.1.1. Principles 46

5.1.2. Current status 46

5.1.3. Major gaps and necessary enhancements 47

5.1.4. Principal recommendations 47

5.2. Data fusion for analysis and modeling 48

5.2.1. Observation requirements 48

5.2.2. Current status 48

5.2.3. Major gaps and necessary enhancements 48

5.2.4. Principal recommendations 48

5.3. Data assimilation 48

5.3.1. Model-data synthesis 48

5.3.2. Major gaps and necessary enhancements 49

5.3.3. Principal recommendations 49

6. Data Delivery 50

6.1. Data and product access 50

6.1.1. Data access policies 50

6.1.2. Data documentation policies 50

6.1.3. Principal recommendations 51

6.2. Data and information delivery systems 51

6.2.1. Provide access to data 52

6.2.2. Functionality for assessing and documenting data integrity 52

6.2.3. Data mining and analytical capabilities 52

6.2.4. Distributed archiving and management systems 52

6.2.5. Principal recommendations 52

7. Capacity Building 54

7.1. Background 54

7.2. Principles 54

7.3. Elements of capacity building 54

7.4. Principal actions needed 54

8. Relation of IGOL to other Themes 56

9. Implementation 58

9.1. Strategy 58

9.2. Mapping of IGOL recommendations to GEO tasks 58

9.2.1. Reports and meetings 58

9.2.2. Land cover (see section 4.1) 58

9.2.3. Land use (see section 4.2) 59

9.2.4. Forests (see section 4.3). 59

9.2.5. Biophysical properties relating to ecosystem dynamics (see section 4.4) 59

9.2.6. Fire (see section 4.5) 59

9.2.7. Biodiversity and conservation (see section 4.6) 60

9.2.8. Agriculture (see section 4.7) 60

9.2.9. Soils (see section 4.8) 60

9.2.10. Human settlements and human socio-economic data (see section 4.9) 60

9.2.11. Water availability and use (see section 4.10) 61

9.2.12. Topography (see section 4.11) 61

9.2.13. Validation and Quality Assessment (see section 5.1) 61

9.2.14. Data fusion (see section 5.2) 61

9.2.15. Data assimilation (see section 5.3) 61

9.2.16. Data and product access (see section 6.1) 61

9.2.17. Data and information delivery (see section 6.2) 61

10. Concluding comments 63

10.1. Remote sensing observations 63

10.1.1. Critical observations needing to be continued 63

10.1.2. Crucial incremental additions 63

10.1.3. Critical new initiatives 63

10.2. Central role of land cover products 64

10.3. Socio-economic products 64

10.4. In situ observations 64

10.5. Importance of validation 64

10.6. Key role of improved classification schemes 64

10.7. Delivering observations and products 64

10.8. Data policies 64

10.9. Capacity building 64

10.10. New application areas 65

10.11. IGOL and GEOSS 65

Acknowledgments 66

11. References 67

12. Appendix 1 List of acronyms 73

13. Appendix 2 Participants in the IGOL Theme 77