Project Consortium

The project was implemented by a consortium of specialist service providers in the European Earth Observation sector.

The consortium integrated EO technical proficiency and a wide experience in developing geospatial operation services in the marine and coastal domain: National Oceanography Centre (United Kingdom) (lead), Brockman Consult (Germany), University of Twente – ITC (The Netherlands), Plymouth Marine Laboratory (United Kingdom), University of Tartu (Estonia), Arup (United Kingdom) and Seven (Greece).

Aim

Earth Observation for Sustainable Development (EO4SD) is an ESA initiative which aims at increasing the uptake of EO-based information in regular development operations at national and international level.

Objectives

EO4SD-marine will work with a range of stakeholders to define and implement a large-scale demonstration of how EO-derived information can support sustainable development activities in marine and coastal environments. Specifically, we aim to demonstrate the use of EO to support, for example:

  • Mapping of coastal bathymetry, coastline change, and changes in coastal land cover and land use
  • Mapping the extent and status of benthic habitats such as coral reefs, macro-algae and seagrass beds
  • Monitoring of water quality and marine pollution
  • Assessments of coastal habitat extent and status
  • Monitoring of coastal environments required for the planning, implementation and management of marine protected areas
  • Surveillance of illegal and unreported fisheries
  • Monitoring of economic activities such as aggregate extraction and dredging
  • Marine spatial planning and the selection of suitable sites for aquaculture and other activities to develop blue economy activities such as tourism, transportation, and marine energy generation
EO4SD