Project description
Levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere have increased to historical levels, when compared to the pre-industrial era, usually taken as a standard measure. These CO2 levels are due to emissions from human activity, or anthropogenic emissions. These emissions are the main cause of effects of climate change such as rising temperatures and ocean acidification.
Although fossil fuels are the first source of anthropogenic emissions, historically it has been the change in land use (LUC) the main component of human emissions. Currently, it still accounts for about 12% of these. The main reason for the change in land use is the demand created mainly by agriculture and deforestation. Climate action in this direction is urgently needed in order to reverse the effects of deforestation and harness the potential of trees as CO2 hijackers. The lack of large databases for the modelling and understanding of this CO2 hijacking on a global scale is necessary for the correct decision making and sustainability of related projects. Monitoring through remote sensing has the potential to generate a large amount of data that can be used for this purpose.
In this context, Lobelia Offset will develop and implement a remote sensing monitoring system that serves to calculate carbon dioxide absorption in wooded and reforested areas. This calculation will be used to trigger a system of payments for environmental services (PES) of reforestation and assisted natural regeneration and will serve as CO2 compensation, also known as CO2 offsetting. This system will be based on observations of different types of satellite and artificial intelligence models. It will be implemented in areas of the tropics of the African continent and will be validated with in-situ databases and existing LiDAR satellite products.
