20 December 2018
Progress has continued, both in terms of identifying EBV candidates and in providing descriptions, though progress varies among the different working groups developing the information. Getting EBVs to the next level of maturity is quite a complex process and among other things requires some social engineering to move towards consensus. The overall development framework is undergoing an update and this should provide greater clarity on the process and thus facilitate progress.
March 2018: In 2017, NASA announced the selection of 32 projects that support 9 elements in the GEO Work Programme. These projects will be funded starting in 2018 for three years. Eight projects are in direct support of GEO BON activities and will directly or indirectly facilitate the development of remote sensing enabled EBVs. At the end of November, a joint webinar was held to introduce these projects, as well as two relevant projects funded by ESA (GlobDiversity) and the EC (Horizon 2020), to each other and to GEO BON. An additional goal was to develop a platform for future collaborations. NASA and ESA personnel, GEO BON leadership, and project team members attended the webinar. The NASA, ESA, and EC projects will catalyze the development of observational requirements for remote sensing enabled EBVs, which can then be transmitted to CEOS and space agencies.
In December, GEO BON submitted a technical note to the Convention on Biological Diversity to provide information about remote sensing enabled EBVs to this stakeholder community and to gather input on increasing the usability of EBVs to measure progress towards achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
Resulting from the September remote sensing enabled EBV workshop held in the Netherlands (see previous update), a journal article is under development to describe community progress towards defining remote sensing enabled EBVs.
October 2017: There has been significant process in developing descriptions and requirements for EBVs enabled by remote sensing. ESA has funded a project under their GlobDiversity program that will be tasked with developing requirements for several EBVs in the next two years. NASA will soon announce funding for several additional EBV projects. In September 2017, the community convened at a workshop to further prioritize remote sensing-based EBVs and refine EBV classes. A workshop report and journal article are forthcoming.