Évora once again hosts national Earth Observation community

The Portuguese Space Agency continues promoting Earth Observation for Municipalities in 2025. On 7 February, the University of Évora will host the first session of the year, dedicated to Alentejo, Lisbon, and Tagus Valley.

The initiative, which has the support of the University of Évora, which hosted in 2022 the first National Earth Observation Conference, maintains the objective of publicising and promoting the use of Earth Observation technologies among regional and local public administration. ‘By bringing together the regions of Alentejo and Lisbon and the Tagus Valley in a single event, we want to foster the exchange of knowledge and the creation of synergies between actors from a vast territory, different perspectives and common goals,’ points out Carolina Sá, Earth Observation programme manager at the Portuguese Space Agency.

‘In Évora, we’ll be bringing together local academia, industry and public administration to publicise local capabilities, but also to promote the development of solutions using space technologies that respond to municipalities‘ problems”, she adds, pointing out that this will be another opportunity to promote the Incubed for Municipalities competition, which is open until 2 June 2025.

‘Holding the ‘Earth Observation for Municipalities’ event at the University of Évora is of great importance to the institution, as it is aligned with its mission to promote regional development, innovation and environmental sustainability while reinforcing its strategy in the fields of the Environment, Digitisation and Data Science and the Aerospace sector,’ says Maria João Costa, a professor at the University of Évora.

The also director of EaRSLab (Remote Sensing Laboratory) believes that ‘Earth observation is relevant to the Alentejo region given its unique characteristics and the pressing challenges it faces’, namely problems such as water scarcity, soil degradation and the impacts of climate change. The event will serve as a platform for demonstrating the application of advanced tools for monitoring and managing natural resources, increasing efficiency and productivity, promoting intersectoral and interregional collaboration, and facilitating the exchange of knowledge and experiences. ’

CAMS discusses air quality in Portugal

On the previous day, February 6, the institution will host a workshop dedicated to the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS), promoted by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the entity responsible for implementing this service of the European Union’s Earth observation programme. The practical session, which seeks to respond to national needs regarding air quality monitoring and promote debates on the subject, will be co-organised by the ECMWF and DLR, as a subcontractor of the ECMWF, as well as the national consortium of the national collaboration programme for CAMS (NCP-CAMS), led by CoLAB +ATLANTIC, in partnership with the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) and the University of Aveiro.

‘It’s a privilege to personally participate in this important national event, which brings together diverse communities, both nationally and locally, from various sectors. For ECMWF, and in particular, for the CAMS National Collaboration Programme, this is a crucial opportunity to strengthen engagement with national stakeholders and promote collaboration so that we move forward with common goals in the adoption of CAMS products,’ stresses Cristina Ananasso, coordinator of the team responsible for Copernicus national collaboration programmes at ECMWF.

Ultimately, the common goal of these events is to promote geospatial intelligence and the adoption of Copernicus in Portugal to solve our most important societal challenges. Indeed, Ana Oliveira, Space CTO and leader of the national NCP-CAMS consortium adds that ‘at +ATLANTIC, our primary motivation is to promote a constructive dialogue between all these stakeholders, from academia to public institutions, from the private sector to civil society, to build knowledge-based solutions that are scientifically sound, operationally accessible and suitable for promoting the well-being and health of our society.

See the agenda for the ‘Earth Observation for Municipalities’ session and the workshop dedicated to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) and register for both events via this link.

The ‘Earth Observation for Municipalities’ initiative ends on 27 March in the Algarve region. More information will be available soon.