CONTRIBUTIONS OF LAND REMOTE SENSING FOR DECISIONS ABOUT FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
WORKSHOP REPORT
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Award No. W24736; U.S. Department of Agriculture Award No. 59-0790-3-194; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Award No. 200-2000-00629, Task Order No. 18; and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Award No. 4W-3838-NALX. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations contained in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the agencies that provided support for the project. Mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations does not constitute their endorsement by the sponsoring agencies.
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Cover: A choropleth map showing levels of poverty in northern and western Kenya fades into a satellite image showing the color of the Earth’s surface in northern Tanzania. Kenya poverty gap index map courtesy of the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. Satellite imagery courtesy of NASA.
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COMMITTEE ON EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE FOR DECISIONS ABOUT HUMAN WELFARE: CONTRIBUTIONS OF REMOTE SENSING
RUTH S. DEFRIES, Chair,
University of Maryland, College Park
ROBERTA BALSTAD,
Columbia University, Palisades, New York
RITA COLWELL,
University of Maryland, College Park
TOM P. EVANS,
Indiana University, Bloomington
NINA S.-N. LAM,
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
JOEL MICHAELSEN,
University of California, Santa Barbara
KAREN SETO,
Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
MARK L. WILSON,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
National Research Council Staff
SAMMANTHA MAGSINO, Study Director (since February 2006)
HEDY J. ROSSMEISSL, Study Director (through February 2006)
PEGGY TSAI, Associate Program Officer
AMANDA M. ROBERTS, Senior Project Assistant (through August 2006)
JARED P. ENO, Senior Project Assistant (since August 2006)
GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCES COMMITTEE
ROGER M. DOWNS, Chair,
Pennsylvania State University, University Park
BRIAN J. L. BERRY,
University of Texas, Dallas
SUSAN L. CUTTER,
University of South Carolina, Columbia
RUTH S. DEFRIES,
University of Maryland, College Park
WILLIAM E. EASTERLING III,
Pennsylvania State University, University Park
PATRICIA GOBER,
Arizona State University, Tempe
MICHAEL F. GOODCHILD,
University of California, Santa Barbara
SUSAN HANSON,
Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts
JONATHAN D. MAYER,
University of Washington, Seattle
EMILIO F. MORAN,
Indiana University, Bloomington
DAVID L. SKOLE,
Michigan State University, East Lansing
National Research Council Staff
PAUL M. CUTLER, Senior Program Officer
VERNA J. BOWEN, Financial and Administrative Associate
BOARD ON EARTH SCIENCES AND RESOURCES
GEORGE M. HORNBERGER, Chair,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
M. LEE ALLISON,
Arizona Geological Survey, Tucson
GREGORY B. BAECHER,
University of Maryland, College Park
STEVEN R. BOHLEN,
Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Washington, D.C.
KEITH C. CLARKE,
University of California, Santa Barbara
DAVID J. COWEN,
University of South Carolina, Columbia
ROGER M. DOWNS,
Pennsylvania State University, University Park
JEFF DOZIER,
University of California, Santa Barbara
KATHERINE H. FREEMAN,
Pennsylvania State University, University Park
RHEA L. GRAHAM,
Pueblo of Sandia, Bernalillo, New Mexico
ROBYN HANNIGAN,
Arkansas State University, State University
MURRAY W. HITZMAN,
Colorado School of Mines, Golden
V. RAMA MURTHY,
University of Minnesota (retired), Corrales, NM
RAYMOND A. PRICE,
Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada
BARBARA A. ROMANOWICZ,
University of California, Berkeley
JOAQUIN RUIZ,
University of Arizona, Tucson
MARK SCHAEFER,
Global Environment and Technology Foundation, Arlington, Virginia
RUSSELL E. STANDS-OVER-BULL,
BP American Production Company, Pryor, Montana
BILLIE L. TURNER II,
Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts
TERRY C. WALLACE, Jr.,
Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico
STEPHEN G. WELLS,
Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada
THOMAS J. WILBANKS,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee
National Research Council Staff
ANTHONY R. DE SOUZA, Director
PAUL M. CUTLER, Senior Program Officer
ELIZABETH A. EIDE, Senior Program Officer
DAVID A. FEARY, Senior Program Officer
ANNE M. LINN, Senior Program Officer
ANN G. FRAZIER, Program Officer
SAMMANTHA MAGSINO, Program Officer
RONALD F. ABLER, Senior Scholar
CAETLIN M. OFIESH, Research Associate
VERNA J. BOWEN, Financial and Administrative Assistant
JENNIFER T. ESTEP, Financial Associate
JARED P. ENO, Senior Program Assistant ogram Assistant
Preface
The National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Geographical Sciences first considered a study on remote sensing for human welfare several years ago. Since then, the world has witnessed the tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Katrina of 2005, wildfires in the western United States damaging human lives and property, emergence of diseases such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and avian influenza, and entrenched chronic poverty and hunger in many parts of the world. These occurrences add to an already long list of human welfare concerns that intricately link land use, environmental conditions, and vulnerabilities of human populations. Effective decisions about human welfare—how to foresee changing environmental conditions on the land surface with negative outcomes for human welfare, where and when to respond, how to foster land use and development policies that enhance human welfare—inevitably depend on understanding and communicating these complex linkages.
Coming decades will see major changes in the numbers, distribution, and lifestyles of human populations; climate and other environmental conditions; and land use in response to both economic demands and altered environments. These vast transformations challenge the scientific community to understand complex linkages between environmental conditions and human access to food, water, healthy living conditions, and other aspects of human welfare—and to transfer this understanding into usable information. Remote sensing data offer one piece in this multifaceted puzzle. Combined with other data, remote sensing reveals interactions over space and time that simply cannot be observed from the ground.
This report offers examples that illustrate the possibilities of addressing agency objectives to apply remote sensing for societal benefit. Beyond these illustrative examples, the report summarizes workshop discussions on the opportunities and challenges in moving toward the long-term goal of integrating land remote sensing into decision making on a range of human welfare decisions. The committee organized this workshop to consider the potential, recognizing that the scientific community has only begun to address the opportunities. The workshop was one of many stepping stones to bring together multiple perspectives from different disciplines to transfer this potential into reality.
The workshop and this report would not have been possible without the hard and dedicated work of the organizing committee and the workshop participants. In addition, NRC staff provided the logistical support as well as substantive contributions. Hedy J. Rossmeissl helped in developing the agenda and all aspects of organization. Sammantha Magsino and Peggy Tsai contributed immensely in drafting the report. Amanda Roberts assisted at the workshop and behind the scenes. This report is the product of the combined talents of all of these individuals. We hope that it serves as a launching point for many scientific endeavors, interactions with decision makers, and applications that harness the capabilities of land remote sensing to advance human welfare.
Ruth S. DeFries
Chair
Acknowledgments
This report was greatly enhanced by input from the presenters and participants at the workshop (see Appendix E). These presentations and discussions helped set the stage for the committee’s fruitful discussions in the sessions that followed. Robert Pool prepared an initial summary of the workshop, which was useful to the committee in writing this report.
This workshop summary report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report:
George H. Born, University of Colorado
Michael Emch, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Gregory Glass, Johns Hopkins University
Michael F. Goodchild, University of California, Santa Barbara
Marshall A. Martin, Purdue University
Billie L. Turner II, Clark University
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclu-
sions or recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the workshop summary report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Daniel G. Brown, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Appointed by the National Research Council, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.