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CLIMATE CHANGE STUDIES & RESEARCH
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Impacts of climate change can be measured and or realized by varying temperatures, changing landscapes, rising sea levels, melting snows, fluctuating weather patterns, shifting drought-fire-flash-floods, accentuating human-wild-marine-plant lives, displacement of native species, biota migration, heat related illnesses and new diseases, and depleting fresh (surface and ground) waters around the world. Moreover, climate change is impacting our economy and all lives on earth.
As per the United Nations report, approximately 20% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions comes from deforestation (agricultural practices, urbanization, land conversion for water, air transportation, irrigation and water supply systems) and forest degradation (destructive logging, forest fires, forest diseases, droughts, etc.), this emission accounts more than the entire global transportation sector and second to the energy sector emissions.
Reducing emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) was a proposal put to the UNFCCC in 2005 by the Coalition of Rainforest Nations, including Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, that they would reduce their rates of deforestation and degradation in exchange for compensation (Source: UN Report).
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) is an effort to create a financial value for the carbon stored in forests, offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development.
“REDD+” goes beyond deforestation and forest degradation, and includes the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
Earth Mapping International (EMI) Consortium’s objectives for climate change studies and researches are: Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), conservation of biodiversity, sustainable and optimal forest management, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. To meet the above objectives it will require in-depth knowledge of an in-situ understanding, utilization of available and affordable technology, sustainable economy, political will power, and accommodating social behaviors to cope with problems. We utilize remote sensing and geospatial tools to monitor, report, and verification of REDD+ programs through land cover changes.
Land Cover Change (LCC) is a very complex process that occurs due to four natural and man-made phenomena: (1) Earth's geologic processes - volcanoes, tectonic movements, and earthquakes, (2) Earth's landscape processes - deforestation, agriculture, urbanization, surface transportation, irrigation and water supply, waterways, and aviation, (3) Atmospheric processes - soil erosion, flooding, landslides, droughts, and forest fires, and (4) Global influences - solar radiation, meteoroids, magnetic and gravity field changes. Land Use Change (LUC), on the other hand, is caused by man-made factors such as agriculture and infrastructure development. Combined together, Land Cover Land Use Change (LCLUC) analyses provide a comprehensive explanation for changes in the earth’s surface. The analysis of LCLUC is one of the measuring tools for Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) of REDD+ implementation.
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