The European Space Agency has launched the Global Development Assistance Programme inplemented in cooperation with International Financial Institutions (World Bank and Asian Development Bank) to provide EO-based information in support of IFIs action plans in developing countries.

To achieve this mission, the GDA programme focuses on targeted Agile EO Information Development (GDA AID) applied to 8 thematic areas: Urban Sustainability, Disaster Resilience, Climate Resilience, Fragility Conflict and Security, Marine Environment and Blue Economy, Agriculture, Water Resources and Clean Energy.

The GDA AID Marine Environment & Blue Economy activity has been awarded to an international consortium, led by Planetek Italia, which includes partners with various and complementary expertise, namely AirCentre (Portugal), Climate Impact (Italy), EOMAP (Germany), Geoville (Austria), Terrasigna (Romania), and the University of Palermo (Italy).

This activity line aims at addressing the main challenges identified together with GDA Institutional Partners in ensuring both economic development and health of coastal and marine ecosystems, through the development of relevant Earth observation based products and services. The major themes addressed are improved fisheries governance, marine litter and pollution management, integrated seascape management and ‘blueing oceanic sector’ through investments, policy reforms and coordination strategies that are built on coastal and marine assets protection.

Earth observation product and information technical development are expected to support the following use-cases:

• Ecosystem Protection and Management;
• Water Quality and Pollution Assessment and Monitoring;
• Assessment and tracking of environmental damages from maritime disasters;
• Detection and assessment capabilities for fishery resources;
• Shoreline and riverbank erosion mapping;
• Assessment of marine environmental impacts from port infrastructure and operations.

Learn more about the GDA AID Marine Environment & Blue Economy