Portfolio | agriculture and rural development

	Multi-scale monitoring to assess agricultural production To feed the growing world population, food production must increase by an expected 70 percent. To minimize the human impact on the Earth’s natural resources and avoid land use triggered conflicts, the focus should be on increasing productivity in a sustainable manner. Satellite Earth Observation (EO) is a powerful technique for continuously assessing the status of agricultural production on a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Download PDF (426.72 KB)
	Food security and agricultural risk management Organisations concerned with food security require timely information on predicted and actual crop production figures at different stages in time, to assess (for example) the market situation or act upon food scarcity events. Download PDF (710.13 KB)
	Irrigation and irrigation systems management To enhance global food security it is essential to increase food production through the use of irrigation. Download PDF (1.01 MB)
	Assessing land degradation and environmental conditions Satellite Earth Observation is a powerful technique for continuously assessing the status and changes of environmental conditions and ecosystem functions on a wide range of spatial and temporal scale. It provides long-term global data and can rapidly reveal where change has happened in a consistent and repeatable manner. Download PDF (1.53 MB)
	Agriculture and ecosystem services The understanding of the environmental services that the agriculture sector can provide, such as absorbing carbon, managing watersheds, and preserving biodiversity is gaining momentum in development programmes implementation. Earth Observation data supports integrated ecosystem management by determining the spatial extent and condition of ecosystems, associated trends and changes over time. Download PDF (393 KB)
	Rural infrastructure investments Sustainable rural development planning requires knowledge on the rural infrastructure assets and physical supply chain structures, such as the as the road network and other transport infrastructure, storage facilities, markets and irrigation schemes. Download PDF (722.13 KB)
	Impact of agriculture commodity production on deforestation and ecosystem health and sustainability Commodity sectors (palm oil, soybean and beef) have an important role in food security, energy supply and economic development, but also have significant environmental and social impacts. Download PDF (863.97 KB)
	Supporting environmental and social safeguards frameworks Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), governments and public sector agencies have over time developed policies and frameworks (“safeguards”) to identify, avoid and minimise harmful and adverse effects on people and the environment, with a particular focus on preserving and strengthening the long-term sustainability of ecosystems. Download PDF (746.79 KB)