AIR Contributes to GEO’s Vegetation Pests and Diseases Monitoring

With the theme of “Global Action for Local Impact”, Group on Earth Observations (GEO) held a Virtual Symposium on May 2, 2022 to explored how the portfolio of GEO products and services provide insights and evidence for policy development and decision making. Prof. HUANG Wenjiang from the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR), Chinese Academy of Sciences, was invited to give a presentation on the progress of Global Crop Pest and Disease Habitat Monitoring and Risk Forecasting, a research activity conducted by AIR scientists. 

This activity aims at the applications of crop pest and disease monitoring from the aspects of scientific data, model API, spatial information products, and software systems, in line with the application requirements at global, regional, and local scales.  

Through cooperation with international organizations and institutions such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Global Biopersity Information Facility (GBIF), and CAB International (CABI), AIR scientists have provided pest and disease monitoring products and services to multi-level users including decision makers, researchers, and farmers from Pakistan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, etc., with the goal to reduce food losses and to achieve significant economic and ecological benefits. 

The research result of the activity is selected into the GEO highlight achievements and GEO Week 2021 Accelerating Action.

In the future, AIR will continue to strengthen the links with FAO, GBIF and CABI, and actively cooperate with other GEO Work Program activities to further promote the application of relevant products and services, and making contributions to efficient and timely pest and disease monitoring and maintenance of global food security.

A screenshot of the virtual symposium.