Ukrainian contribution to the Global Agricultural Monitoring Initiative GEO-GLAM

As population on the Earth increases and climate changes likely to impact global crop production, food security becomes a topic of great importance. This problem is addressed within the Global Agricultural Geo-Monitoring Initiative (GEO-GLAM) in the framework of the Group on Earth Observation (GEO). The GEO-GLAM initiative is aimed at coordinating satellite monitoring observation systems in different countries in order to “enhance crop production projections and weather forecasting data” [1]. The output of the GEO-GLAM is an essential input to the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS).

Ukraine is one of the most developed agriculture countries and one of the biggest crop producers in the world. Direct involvement of Ukraine in the GEO-GLAM initiative is essential at both regional and global scale.

Space Research Institute NAS Ukraine and SSA Ukraine takes active part in the GEO-GLAM activities through international collaboration and research and development activities [2-3]. This includes collaboration with the representatives of the GEO-GLAM Coordination Group, in particular, GEO Secretariat, University of Maryland, EC Joint Research Center (JRC), and Agri-Food Canada through JECAM. Presentations on the current involvement of Ukraine into the GEO-GLAM were presented and discussed at the following recent meetings, in particular EC JRC’s Workshop on “Crop Yield Forecasting in South East Europe” (30-31 May, 2013, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia), GEO European Projects' Workshop (GEPW7) (15-16 April, 2013, Barcelona, Spain), Technical Meeting with University of Maryland and USDA (7 April, 2013, Kyiv, Ukraine), and GEOSS Future Products Workshop 2013 (26-28 March, 2013, Silver Spring, MD, USA). It was discussed that Ukraine will be among 5 countries that will participate in the Implementation Phases 1 and 2 of the GEO-GLAM. Space Research Institute NAS Ukraine and SSA Ukraine is also a part of the consortium within the European FP7 project on GEO-GLAM.

The presentation will provide the latest status of Ukrainian contribution to the GEO-GLAM, the results achieved so far and existing challenges, as well as outline ways forward.

References.
[1] The Launch of the G20 Global Agricultural Geo-Monitoring Initiative (GEO-GLAM), GEO-VIII, 16-17 November 2011. Available at: http://www.earthobservations.org/documents/geo-viii/14_The%20Launch%20of%20the%20G20%20Global%20Agricultural%20Geo-Monitoring%20Initiative%20%28GEO-GLAM%29.pdf.
[2] Kogan F., Kussul N., Adamenko T., Skakun S., Kravchenko O., Kryvobok O., Shelestov A., Kolotii A., Kussul O., Lavrenyuk A. “Winter wheat yield forecasting in Ukraine based on Earth observation, meteorological data and biophysical models,” Int. J. Appl. Earth Observ. Geoinf., vol. 23, pp. 192-203, 2013.
[3] Kussul N., Skakun S., Shelestov A., Kravchenko O., Gallego J.F., Kussul O. “Crop area estimation in Ukraine using satellite data within the MARS project,” 2012 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 22-27 July, 2012, (IGARSS), pp. 3756-3759.