Satellite Earth Observation for Essential Climate Variables Supporting Sustainable Development Goals: A Review on Applications

Abstract

Essential climate variables (ECVs) have been recognized as crucial information for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There is an agreement on 54 ECVs to understand climate evolution, and multiple rely on satellite Earth observation (abbreviated as s-ECVs). Despite the efforts to encourage s-ECV use for SDGs, there is still a need to further integrate them into the indicator calculations. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature review to identify s-ECVs used in SDG monitoring. Results showed the use of 14 s-ECVs, the most frequent being land cover, ozone, precursors for aerosols and ozone, precipitation, land surface temperature, soil moisture, soil carbon, lakes, and leaf area index. They were related to 16 SDGs (mainly SDGs 3, 6, 11, 14, and 15), 33 targets, and 23 indicators. However, only 10 indicators (belonging to SDGs 6, 11, and 15) were calculated using s-ECVs. This review raises research opportunities by identifying s-ECVs yet to be used in the indicator calculations. Therefore, indicators supporting SDGs must be updated to use this valuable source of information which, in turn, allows a worldwide indicator comparison. Additionally, this review is relevant for scientists and policymakers for future actions and policies to better integrate s-ECVs into the Agenda 2030.

Opportunities for Monitoring Soil and Land Development to Support United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A Case Study of the United States of America (USA)

“…Technological advances using remote sensing and soil databases (and future soil database development) can be used to standardize the evaluation of SDG implementation worldwide on an ongoing basis (Figure 1), which could help identify opportunities for regional collaboration to address SDGs [59]. There is increasing research in linking satellite data to SDGs using "essential variables" (e.g., land cover, soil moisture, soil C) which include directly and indirectly related variables linked to climate and SDGs [60]. The current spatially explicit systems utilize remote sensing but do not utilize the wealth of information that can be derived from the intersection of LULC change and soil databases [59].…”

Modeling Yield of Irrigated and Rainfed Bean in Central and Southern Sinaloa State, Mexico, Based on Essential Climate Variables

“…By 2050, the world population will have increased to approximately 9725 million inhabitants [1], so food production will also have to increase by about 70% [2]; cited by [3]. Due to these projections, the United Nations General Assembly [4] adopted the 2030 sustainable development agenda [5]. This agenda proposes the topic "food production" with five priority goals: (1) ending poverty, (2) responsible production and consumption, (3) decent work and economic growth, (4) sustainable cities and communities, and (5) zero hunger.…”

“…There are 55 essential climate variables [10], of which certain variables stand out for being easy to obtain and important in agriculture: (1) average surface soil moisture (ASM), (2) cumulative effective precipitation (CEP), and air temperature [11,12]. According to [13,14], from the air temperature it is possible to calculate (3) average maximum temperature (AMT), (4) maximum maximorum temperature (MMT), (5) average minimum temperature (AmT), (6) minimum minimorum temperature (mmT), (7) average mean temperature (AMeT), (8) maximorum mean temperature (MMeT), (9) degree days, and (10) cumulative reference evapotranspiration (CET), these nine essential climate variables being the main ones that affect crop yields. According to [15], the crops most sensitive to extreme essential climate variables conditions in Latin America are corn, wheat, and bean.…”

“…This study provides models with predictive sensitivity for IBY-RBY [34] based on extreme essential climate variable events [35][36][37][38]. The results contribute to the prevention of negative effects due to possible decreases in IBY-RBY, helping in the production of sustainable foods [5] in a purely agricultural state, considered to this day as "the breadbasket of Mexico" [20].…”

Modeling of Yield of Irrigated and Rainfed Bean, Based on Essential Climatic Variables, in the Center and South from Sinaloa State, Mexico

“…By the year 2050, the world population will increase to approximately 9,725 million inhabitants [1], so, by this same year, food production must also increase by about 70% [2] cited by [3]. Due to these projections, the general assembly of the United Nations [4] adopted the 2030 agendasustainable development [5]. This agenda proposes 17 priority goals [5], where the topic "food production" resides in five of this 17 goals: 1) end of poverty, 2) zero hunger, 3) decent work and growth economic, 4) sustainable cities and communities and 5) responsible production and consumption.…”