Hatfield supports PEOPLE-ECCO project: Enhancing Ecosystems Conservation through Earth Observation Solutions, Capacity Development and Co-design

Jan 06, 2025

Hatfield is proud to take part in PEOPLE-ECCO, a two-year project funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), under the Earth Observation Science for Society (EO4Society) programme. This project addresses the need for Earth Observation (EO) based tools designed to assess the effectiveness of conservation initiatives and to help prioritize conservation actions.

PEOPLE-ECCO is led by ITC, the University of Twente’s Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation. Hatfield joins the team, which includes DHI and 52°North. Involving non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs) is a key project goal, achieved through co-design methodologies, developing, testing, and validating EO-integrated methods, and capacity-building activities.

This project is currently in the requirements gathering and co-design phase, working closely with six ecosystem conservation NGO/CSOs – which are known as “early adopters”: African Parks, Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Lebanon Reforestation Initiative, Prince Edward Island Watershed Alliance, and Reef Check Malaysia.

The requirements gathering and co-design process includes engaging the broader conservation user community. This includes a workshop at ESA’s Biospace25 Conference, scheduled for February 10-14, 2025, in Frascati, Italy. The workshop will take place on Wednesday 12 February, from 14:30 to 18:00. We look forward to in-depth discussions on key aspects of satellite remote sensing for biodiversity and to an open and participatory format, encouraging active engagement and contribution from the conference participants.

Photo: Mohammad Idrees (Unsplash)