The rapid growth in the
number of environmental treaties since the 1972 Stockholm Conference
on the Environment has been an encouraging sign of international commitment
to protecting the environment. The Earth Summit in 1992 provided added
impetus to the establishment of multilateral environmental agreements
(MEAs), with the formation of three major conventions: the Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Convention to Combat Desertification
(CCD), and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC). MEAs
now address almost every conceivable part of the Earth's biophysical
systems.
With the proliferation
of MEAs comes an attendant need for information related to the health
of the Earth's biophysical systems, and for better understanding of
the socio-economic processes and government policies that affect the
environment. This information contributes to the design of improved
policy instruments. Remotely sensed data are critical to understanding
the Earth's physical and social systems and the interactions between
the two. Although not the only tool for gathering such data, remote
sensing complements ground-based methods in the following ways: it provides
accurate, objective and comparable data; it can be turned to ecological
regions of widely-varying scales; and because it is sensed from space
it can present a wide range of relevant data synoptically and without
infringing national sovereignty.
MEAs are evolving, open
processes, which are continually reviewing implementation and developing
new measures to improve effectiveness. Furthermore, there is no sign
that the growth in the number of MEAs, especially at the regional level,
will let up. Remote sensing can greatly contribute to the ongoing development
and refinement of MEAs by assisting in problem definition and catalyzing
action. It can also be used by researchers seeking to understand or
evaluate regime effectiveness, and assist contracting parties in national
reporting processes and other assessments related to implementation.
There is growing interest
in the application of remote sensing technology to MEAs on the part
of contracting parties to these treaties, convention secretariats, scientists,
donors and environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This
interest has been sparked in part by the tremendous growth in the suite
of observational data products that are now available, both from long-running
U.S., Canadian and European Union programs and from more recent comers
such as Japan, India, China, Brazil and commercial satellite ventures.
Efforts
are underway on a small scale to test remote sensing applications in
relation to MEAs, for example to monitor carbon sequestration under
the Kyoto Protocol, or to examine land cover changes in the context
of the CCD. Yet the demand for tailored applications is potentially
much larger. Participants at the Interlinkages conference in July 1999
called for a "harmonization of methodologies, procedures and formats
for the gathering and analysis of information required of the Parties
to environmental· agreements," and identified remote sensing as "an
underutilized resource that should be focused more explicitly on MEA
monitoring and implementation" (see Interlinkages
web site). Similarly, a recent report prepared
for DG-XII of the European Commission called for "greater dialogue between
suppliers of earth observation data and services (principally space
agencies and value-adding companies) and users of such information (e.g.,
parties to a treaty)·in order to make parties to treaties more aware
of the detailed and tailored capabilities of satellite [earth observation]
data and to inform suppliers of users' requirements."
Workshop on Remote Sensing and Environmental
Treaties
In response to these
calls for dialogue, the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC)
organized the Workshop on Remote Sensing and Environmental Treaties,
which was held 4-5 December 2000. The intent was to bring together actors
from the aforementioned communities for a targeted and results-oriented
discussion on the applications of remote sensing to enhance the effectiveness
environmental treaties. The workshop's goal was to demonstrate the potential
for enhancing the effectiveness of MEAs through the appropriate application
of remote sensing technology.
Over two days of plenary
presentations and animated breakout group discussions, workshop participants
developed the following conclusions and recommendations (for a full
set of breakout group recommendations, please see section III of the
workshop report (PDF, 484kb)):
Workshop Conclusions
Remote sensing creates
demand for better environmental law. Remote sensing is an
unparalleled source of information that convey environmental changes
in a visually compelling way. As a result, it is extremely useful for
raising awareness and developing the political support necessary to
strengthen MEAs and environmental laws at the national level.
Remote sensing data
provide a synoptic view of many environmental trends. Remotely sensed
imagery can provide both snapshots and data over time that address environmental
issues at global, regional and national scales. It can provide these
in consistent formats and in ways that complement national-level data
collection efforts, which are often under-resourced and inconsistent
from country to country.
Remote sensing can
contribute to global assessments in support of MEAs. Remote sensing
provides timely information on a large and growing number of environmental
issues such as land-use/land-cover change, carbon-monoxide plumes, and
the carbon density of ecosystems, which can significantly contribute
to global environmental assessments in support of MEAs (e.g.,
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment).
Remote sensing has
the potential to contribute to compliance verification. However,
for this to happen, developments need to occur in at least three areas:
1. The perception
of environmental issues: Sovereignty concerns have taken precedence
over enforcement of treaty provisions, and therefore contracting parties
have traditionally been unwilling to accept external verification. Until
global or regional threats from environmental change are perceived to
significantly affect national interests, states are unlikely to accept
strict enforcement of treaties by third parties.
2. The technology:
Many treaty-specific remote sensing applications are still experimental;
these applications need to be further refined before they will have
the credibility necessary for use in compliance verification.
3. Data access:
Issues such as guaranteed access to data by all parties, documentation
of methodologies, and long-term data archiving need to be addressed.
Workshop Recommendations
Remote sensing instruments.
There is a need to develop a coordinated suite of environmental monitoring
instruments with long-term data continuity at appropriate spatial, spectral,
and temporal resolutions. Some satellites, such as Landsat, already
provide crucial data, and the continuity of the program needs to be
maintained. Data archiving services should be developed in parallel.
For MEA applications to become operational, the price of land-based
remote sensing data would need to more closely approximate that of meteorological
data, which have traditionally been available at low cost on an open-access
basis.
Institutional arrangements.
An international institution should be mobilized to promote coordination
at three levels: among space agencies, among space agencies and value-added
companies, and among these two groups and MEA constituencies. An existing
institution, such as the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS)
or the Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS), may be able to fill
this role. This institution would also serve as a focal point for the
development of the next generation of operational satellite systems
(see point above). Given that the costs of such a system are likely
to be beyond the means of any single country, a cooperative approach
would serve to spread the costs among multiple providers.
Awareness raising
and training. MEAs constituencies, including secretariats
and contracting parties, need to be educated about the capabilities
of current and future remote sensing instruments. They also need
to receive training and capacity building in the use of remote
sensing data for environmental monitoring.
It was agreed that
the workshop represented the first step in a dialogue between
the remote sensing community and MEA constituencies, and that
further exchanges are needed. One of the recommendations was to
transform the workshop website into an on-line resource for anyone
interested in the application of remote sensing technologies to
the needs of multilateral environmental agreements. That is the
purpose of this website. We welcome your contributions. Please
contact us at ciesin.info@ciesin.columbia.edu, or Tel. 1-(845)
365-8922.
