Monitoring-and-assessment-of-wetlands-using-earth-observation

MonitoringandassessmentofwetlandsusingEarthObservation:TheGlobWetlandprojectKevinJonesa,*,YannickLanthiera,PaulvanderVoetb,EricvanValkengoedb,DougTaylorc,DiegoFerna´ndez-PrietodaMDA,20,ColonnadeRoad,Suite110,Ottawa,ON,CanadaK2E7M6bTerraSphereImaging&GISBV,Keizersgracht114hs,1015CVAmsterdam,TheNetherlandscWetlandsInternational,POBox471,6700ALWageningen,TheNetherlandsdEuropeanSpaceAgency(ESA),ViaG.Galilei,C.P.64,00044Frascati,Rome,ItalyarticleinfoArticlehistory:Received10October2006Receivedinrevisedform15May2007Accepted6July2007Availableonline21July2008Keywords:WetlandsEarthObservationLanduseandlandcoverWaterCycleRegimeChangedetectionBiophysicalparametersabstractTheoverallobjectiveoftheRamsarConvention,signedin1971,istheconservationandwiseuseofwetlandsbynationalactionandinternationalcooperationasameanstoachievingsustainabledevelopment.Thiscomplexandchallengingtaskrequiresnational,localandinternationalbodiesinvolvedintheimplementationoftheconventiontorelyonsuitablegeo-informationtobetterunderstandwetlandareas,completenationalinventories,performmonitoringactivities,carryoutassessmentsandputinpracticesuitablemanagementplansbasedonupdatedandreliableinformation.Inthelastyears,EarthObservation(EO)technologyhasbeenrevealedasakeytoolanduniqueinformationsourcetosupporttheenvironmentalcommunityindifferentapplicationdomains,includingwetlands’conservationandmanagement.Inthiscontext,theEuropeanSpaceAgency(ESA)incollabo-rationwiththeRamsarSecretariatlaunchedin2003the‘‘GlobWetland’’projectinordertodemonstratethecurrentcapabilitiesofEarthObservationtechnologytosupportinventorying,monitoring,andassessmentofwetlandecosystems.Thispapercollectsthemainresultsandfindingsofthe‘‘GlobWet-land’’project,providinganoverviewofthecurrentcapabilitiesandlimitsofEOtechnologyasatooltosupporttheimplementationoftheRamsarConvention.Theprojectwascarriedoutincollaborationwithseveralregional,nationalandlocalconservationauthoritiesandwetlandmanagers,involving50differentwetlandsacross21countriesonfourcontinen