Monitoring Protected Areas from Space

Protected areas constitute an important stock of natural, cultural and social capital, yielding flows of economically valuable goods and services that benefit society, secure livelihoods, and hence contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Over the last decades, their number has grown rapidly, and protected areas are now associated with one of the most significant resource allocations on the planet. Their monitoring and management can be particularly challenging given the extent of their coverage, their global distribution and often the remoteness of their location, and the limited funds available for conservation. Satellite-based approaches are a cost effective method to support monitoring efforts of protected areas, offering a cheap, verifiable way to identify areas of concerns at a global scale, and to support managers in their effort to design and apply adaptive management strategies. Remote sensing data can provide historical as well as up to date information and it is expected that upcoming satellite missions will ultimately provide the possibility of continuous monitoring of vast areas at high temporal repetition rates. Incorporating remote sensing techniques in conservation will yield valuable information about status and development of globally distributed protected areas. Altogether, remote sensing can thus facilitate the development of an integrated approach to protected area management, where threats and consequences can both be evaluated. In addition to traditional data collection, we encourage the further development of a dynamic approach to conservation based on relevant remotely sensed data, as these provide part of the essential information required to regularly evaluate the need, adequacy and efficiency of management actions.

PETTORELLI Nathalie;  WEGMANN Martin;  GURNEY Leigh;  DUBOIS Gregoire; 

2016-04-08

WILEY-BLACKWELL

JRC78057

978-1-118-33816-2,   

http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118338162.html,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC78057,