Published: 25 May 2011
The European Environment Agency (EEA) and
the European Commission (EC) have signed
an agreement to provide information on land
cover in Europe, compiling data from land,
air and space. The agreement was signed
on May 25, during a Green Week event in
Brussels.
Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive
Director of the EEA, and Mr Heinz Zourek,
Director General for the EC Directorate-General
for Enterprise and Industry, signed the
Delegation Agreement contracting the EEA
to implement the initial operations of land
monitoring services from 2011-2013.
Land monitoring will
be carried out under the Global Monitoring
for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative
for Earth Observation launched by the EC
and the European Space Agency (ESA). The
objective of GMES is to monitor the state
of the environment on land, at sea and in
the atmosphere, improving the security of
citizens in a world facing an increased
risk of natural and other disasters.
“Information from the
GMES land monitoring service can be used
for real-time environmental stewardship,
providing early warnings of potential disasters
and environmental damage,” Prof McGlade
said. “All kinds of public authorities can
use the tool to develop strategies to tackle
challenges such as climate change, deforestation,
river pollution, soil erosion or urban growth.
Using the latest technology in this way
allows us to get an increasingly accurate
picture of complex and interconnected environmental
problems.”
The GMES land monitoring
services will provide detailed information
on land cover change from local to global
level. Data will be sourced from satellites
developed by the European Space Agency,
as well as from national earth observation
missions. These will be complemented with
data from in situ sources such as airborne
and land-based sensors. Land monitoring
will provide information on urban areas,
forests, grasslands, wetlands and water
bodies as well as other natural resources.
The EEA will manage
a €20 million budget over the three-year
period 2011-2013 to coordinate technical
implementation of the continental and local
GMES land monitoring services. The EEA will
work closely with the Joint Research Centre
who will be responsible for coordinating
the global component of the GMES land monitoring
services.
