Earth Today | Space Agency, AF collab to make earth observation tech available to adaptation projects

THE EUROPEAN Space Agency (ESA), in collaboration with the Adaptation Fund (AF), recently hosted a webinar for insights into how satellite Earth Observation (EO) analytical services and tools can enhance climate adaptation efforts.

The webinar brought together a diverse audience of accredited Implementing Entities (IEs) of the AF, offering an interactive platform to learn, exchange ideas, and identify solutions for enhancing climate adaptation projects worldwide with space-born EO technology.

The session showcased ESA’s cutting-edge EO applications, emphasising their ability to help address challenges in key adaptation sectors, such as agriculture, water management, disaster risk reduction, and urban resilience.

It covered a variety of topics presented by experts from ESA’s Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes, with each segment tailored to provide practical insights and empower IEs to integrate EO into their adaptation projects.

“The growing partnership with ESA is a great example of the Adaptation Fund’s leadership in innovation, in adaptation,“ said Mikko Ollikainen, head of the AF, who added that there is value in integrating EO solutions into adaptation initiatives.

The webinar included, among other things, an introduction to ESA’s GDA programme, “highlighting its pivotal role in leveraging EO for sustainable development and facilitating integration in development finance”, said a December 9 release from the AF.

Participants were also informed about additional available resources to strengthen capacity building and skills transfer, including the ESA GDA Knowledge Hub, a comprehensive platform offering access to technical insights, tools, and case studies as well as capacity development.

The webinar is one in a series of AF climate finance readiness events where the Fund explores ways to support its IEs through information sharing, connecting with platforms, expert exchange, and communicating external opportunities for support in capacity building and project preparation.

“The Fund has a long history of innovating and pioneering effective adaptation projects and programmes since its inception. It has taken innovation a step further over the last several years by establishing an Innovation Facility and several innovation in adaptation grant funding windows that have opened adaptation finance to a wide range of stakeholders,” noted Ollikainen.

Since 2010, the AF has committed more than US$1.2 billion for climate change adaptation and resilience projects and programmes, including180-plus projects in the developing world, with some 46 million beneficiaries. Fifty per cent of its projects are in Least Developed Countries or Small Island Developing States.

ESA’s GDA Programme is a global partnership implemented with the World Bank and other international financial institutions, including the Asian Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.