Conservation scientists need to collaborate with space agencies, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA), to identify measures which help track biodiversity declines around the world.
Scientists, led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), UK, and University of Twente, Netherlands, are calling for urgent cooperation, according to a comment published in Nature.
In a move that previously proved successful in helping to monitor climate change on a global scale, scientists believe that space technology could help track biodiversity across the planet. Satellite images can quickly reveal where and how to reverse the loss of biological diversity. Vegetation productivity or leaf cover can, for example, be measured across continents from space while providing information about biodiversity levels on the ground.
Publicly-funded space agencies, including NASA and ESA, already collect and regularly provide open-access to satellite data. However, a lack of agreement between conservation biologists and space agencies on a definitive set of variables to track, as well as how to translate such information into useful data for conservation, has meant that so far this game-changing resource has remained untapped.
Dr Nathalie Pettorelli, co-author of the comment and researcher at ZSL, said: “With global wildlife populations halved in just 40 years, there is a real urgency to identify variables that both capture key aspects of biodiversity change and can be monitored consistently and globally. Satellites can help deliver such information, and in 10 years’ time, global biodiversity monitoring from space could be a reality, but only if ecologists and space agencies agree on a priority list of satellite-based data that is essential for tracking changes in biodiversity.
“So far biodiversity monitoring has been mostly species-based, and this means that some of the changes happening on a global-scale may be missed. Being able to look at the planet as a whole could literally provide a new perspective on how we conserve biological diversity.”
Dr Andrew Skidmore, lead author and Professor at ITC University Twente, said: “Satellite imagery from major space agencies is becoming more freely available, and images are of much higher resolution than 10 years ago. Our ambition to monitor biodiversity from space is now being matched by actual technical capacity. As conservation and remote sensing communities join forces, biodiversity can be monitored on a global scale. High tech satellites can assist in conserving biological diversity by tracking the impact of environmental policies worldwide.”
Read more: Space-eye-view could help stop global wildlife decline
The Latest on: Global wildlife decline
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Global wildlife decline” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Global wildlife decline
- How Banks and Investors Are Fueling a Global Biodiversity Crisison April 26, 2024 at 9:46 pm
Commercial financial flows to the forest-risk commodity sectors are driving the majority of tropical deforestation.
- Wolf connected to livestock killings could be breeding, wildlife officials sayon April 26, 2024 at 8:19 am
Wildlife officials said they will not remove a gray wolf potentially connected to recent livestock killings, despite requests from stockgrowers.
- Gerald Winegrad: How each of us can help restore the Chesapeake Bay and safeguard our planet | COMMENTARYon April 26, 2024 at 3:18 am
Americans value freedom and most of us would like to see changes in our world. But freedom comes with responsibilities. The one thing each of us can change is our own environmental impact as ...
- Conservation efforts lending a helping hand to global biodiversity, study sayson April 26, 2024 at 2:38 am
Conservation efforts lending a helping hand to global biodiversity, study says - The decade-long research is the biggest of its kind ever completed.
- How Banks and Investors are Fueling a Biodiversity Crisison April 25, 2024 at 10:55 pm
In a global context where tropical rainforests play a critical role in biodiversity conservation and climate regulation, these ecosystems are severely ...
- Wildlife and climate campaigners unite in what could be the biggest ever march for natureon April 24, 2024 at 4:05 am
Members of the public are being encouraged to ‘unite for nature’ by joining a legal and family-friendly demonstration on the streets of central London on Saturday 22 June 2024 • Backed by a wide-range ...
- Researchers working to save whitebark pine, a declining keystone tree species in the greater Yellowstone areaon April 23, 2024 at 9:47 am
A critical tree species found in some of America's most revered national parks is in decline, leading researchers to embark on a race to prevent more from dying off.
- Restoring coastal habitat boosts wildlife numbers by 61% – but puzzling failures mean we can still do betteron April 22, 2024 at 10:10 am
Overall, coastal habitat restoration greatly increases animal numbers and diversity. But not all projects deliver the goods and we need to find out why.
- Earth Day 2024: Why does sustainable travel matter?on April 21, 2024 at 5:00 pm
The WWF’s 2022 Living Planet Report exposed a 69% decline in monitored global wildlife populations between 1970 and 2018, suggesting significant biodiversity loss is taking place across the globe.
- Texas A&M AgriLife wildlife data included in global studyon April 17, 2024 at 7:04 am
Texas A&M AgriLife contributed to one of the largest studies on wildlife response to changes in human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
via Bing News