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UN climate conference hears how EO can help

12 December 2007

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Deforestation in tropical rainforests accounts for as much as 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Around 25 billion tonnes of extra carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere annually by human activities, mainly through burning of fossil fuels, land clearance and wildfires.

EO monitoring

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Landsat and Envisat's ASAR acquisitions over the same area show the cloud problem. Tropical rainforests are notorious for persistent cloud cover, which prevents traditional satellite sensors from making regular acquisitions. Satellite radar sensors flown aboard ESA’s Envisat and ERS satellites are able to produce reliable high-quality images of these areas because they are able to peer through clouds, haze and smoke.

Credits: ESA-Landsat-SarVision

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Deforestation maps in 2006 based on Envisat's ASAR acquisitions. Forest change is shown in red. The largest change areas occured at the end of the year due to large scale fires that destroyed significant areas of remaining peat swamp forest.

Credits: ESA-SarVision

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Oil palm plantation in Kalimantan, Indonesia, expands quickly due to the increasing demand for biofuel.

Credits: Florian Siegert

ESA participation

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ESA stand at UN climate conference in Bali, Indonesia.

Credits: ESA

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