OR/16/006 World Bank Operations
| Colm J Jordan, Tom Dijkstra and Stephen Grebby. 2016. Risk information services for Disaster Risk Management (DRM) in the Caribbean: mainstreaming opportunities. British Geological Survey Internal Report, OR/16/006. |
Relevance to Wider Bank Operations
ESA and the WB have invested in the increased utilisation of EO data through the eoworld and eoworld2 partnerships. Between 2008 and 2012 ESA and the WB jointly implemented fifteen dedicated technical assistance activities aimed at delivering high-impact EO-based data and knowledge products (EO for Sustainable Development, 2013)[1]. The demonstration projects began in the area of adaptation to climate change, progressing to activities focussed on the sectors of disaster risk management, urban development, forestry, agriculture, water resources management, coastal zones and marine environment management. In many cases the results revealed ground-breaking information. This was followed up with sixteen projects within this eoworld2 phase.
This project demonstrates the ability to utilise EO data to provide risk information services for disaster risk management. Specifically, the Services have provided fundamental geospatial information directly for input to the landslide and flood risk mapping that has been undertaken for the Caribbean region by the WB CHARIM project. Nevertheless, the type of EO-derived land cover/land use maps, landslide inventories and DEMs delivered by Services 1, 2 and 3 are also relevant for other WB disaster risk-related projects, such the sub-Saharan African landslide risk project that has recently commenced, and the WB Regional Disaster Vulnerability Reduction project. In fact, information on land use/land cover and DEMs could be considered a mandatory requirement of any hazard mapping project, whether that be related to the disaster risk or the risk posed by climate change. The generation of landslide inventory maps using EO data, as demonstrated in Service 2, is especially useful in rugged or mountainous terrain as this approach helps to overcome accessibility issues that limit traditional field surveys. Recently, BGS has employed this approach for mapping co-seismic and monsoon-induced landslides in Nepal following the 25 April 2015 earthquake (e.g. http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/earthHazards/epom/Nepalearthquakeresponse.html).
Service 1 has the capability to generate temporal land use/land cover information which would be of considerable benefit to other WB Urban Development, Forestry, and Coastal/Ocean monitoring projects being undertaken as part of the eoworld2 initiative. Specifically, the approach used in Service 1 could be used to support ongoing WB forestry, biodiversity and conservation projects in South America, Africa and Indonesia. Moreover, the combination of land use/land cover, river/stream information and DEMs would be applicable to watershed management projects in areas such as Nigeria and India, and sustainable land and water management projects in Ghana and Mauritania. The EO data and techniques utilised in Service 1 can also be modified to contribute information in support of projects concerning food security. For example, such approaches can be used to provide information on agricultural productivity in areas with harsher climatic conditions, in particular Africa and the Middle East.
Service 3 demonstrates the ability to generate accurate and high-resolution DEMs from very high resolution optical satellite imagery. Accordingly, such an approach provides a valuable cost-effective alternative for acquiring elevation data in parts of the world where airborne LiDAR surveys are not feasible due to financial or political constraints. However, if terrain elevation information is required, then airborne LiDAR is perhaps more suitable in areas with dense forest, such as the Caribbean, South America, Indonesia and forested regions of Africa.
Since the inception of this project the World Bank has shown increasing confidence in the efficacy of EO data such as:
- Assessment of urbanization trends via the Global Urban Growth Data initiative;
- Collaborations in international water basins (Zambezi River basin, Lake Chad);
- Green Wall initiative for the Sahel and Sahara to address land degradation;
- Dedicated GEF-financed project to support forest data development (satellite monitoring for forest planning and management);
- WB gained from ESA’s experience from the TIGER project (http://www.tiger.esa.int/) dedicated to African national water authorities.
Furthermore, in 2015 WB GFDRR released a call for projects relating to the 'Development of national disaster risk profiles for sub-Saharan Africa' relating to landslide susceptibility and risk. The call included a note that inputs may include ‘satellite-based landslide occurrence observations’. This simple statement significantly encourages the inclusion of appropriate EO techniques and is an ideal example of an action that the WB can take to further grow uptake of EO products/services in future.
From BGS experience in high profile situations such as the immediate and longer-term response to the Nepal earthquakes and subsequent landslides (2015) it is clear that there is significant interest in WBG regarding the utility of EO data e.g. regarding identification/mapping of damage distribution. Nevertheless there appears to be a degree of uncertainty regarding what can realistically be achieved, and which organisations or individuals should be involved.
Further actions to increase uptake of EO Products
This “Risk information services for DRM in the Caribbean” project focussed on in-country dissemination of results via a range of methods including meetings directly with technical staff in government departments, interaction with landowners and the public during the fieldwork components, and workshops that included a range of stakeholders from WB staff to international agencies. The project Scope of Work included two meetings at the WB offices in Washington DC i.e. the Service Readiness Review and the Service Utility Review meetings. However, it was agreed with the ESA coordinator and the WB TTL that these meeting would in fact take place in the Caribbean as part of the wider CHARIM workshops. Whilst this had the positive effect of increasing the project interaction with stakeholders in the Caribbean, it did result in reduced interaction with a wider group of WB staff had the meetings taken place in Washington DC, as originally planned. We are very grateful to the WB TTL (Dr Melanie Kappes) for reviewing the project reports and Services and for disseminating these within the WB, however to further promote the EO capabilities we would recommend the action to hold a workshop at the WB offices in Washington to present the methodology and results as this could lead to increased awareness and therefore increased exploitation and additional opportunities in further WB operations, programmes and initiatives.
It is evident that there are joint WB and ESA reviews of EO e.g. Earth Observation for Sustainable Development (2013)[1] which have the potential to raise awareness in the WB and increase exploitation of the technology. BGS would welcome the opportunity to contribute to any future joint reports, if deemed appropriate. The input would include the perspectives gained during this eoworld2 project but also those acquired during other current WB projects such as 'Development of National Disaster Risk Profiles for Sub-Saharan Africa; landslide susceptibility and risk'.
The WB has also initiated their own reviews of EO, e.g. in 2015 a tender was released to review the “State of Play on Satellite Services”. The ToR included:
- A review of relevant previous documentation and recent projects
- Research and summarize current providers and data characteristics
- Overall assessment of the market dynamics in the coming 15 years.
BGS cannot comment on the motives that the WB had for releasing the call for this review, nor have we seen the results, however we support the strategy that the WB wishes to learn more about the services possible with satellite technology and the prospects for the roles it may play in future markets.
Without doubt, wider dissemination of what EO can offer the WB is one of the primary methods to increasing its uptake within the group (for applicable projects). BGS made the results of this DRM project available via several pathways including conference presentations and portals (e.g. the ESA Geohazard Exploitation Platform). The conference presentations include the ESA Living Planet Symposium, Prague (May 2016) and RSPSoc 2016, UK (September 2016) highlighting that we are endeavouring to make the results available beyond the timeline of the project funding. The action is on ESA and the WB to ensure long term endorsement of appropriate EO products and services beyond the time frame of eoworld2.