Last month, the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force (GCFTF) celebrated 15 years at its annual meeting in the Amazon State of Acre, Brazil. The GCF Task Force is a subnational collaboration of 45 states and provinces working to protect tropical forests while promoting sustainable rural economic development.  In 2010, the GCF Task Force’s founding responded to two fundamentally important ideas:

1) That durable market-driven economic incentives are critical to drive sustainable use and conservation of forests and their ecosystem services; and

2) That engagement of subnational governments is a critical part of determining the future of forests.

GCFTF is still here fifteen years later because these were, and are, both really good ideas. And like most real solutions to hard problems, they’re not implemented overnight.

The world depends on forests: for food, fiber, water, medicine, shelter, and as a fundamental part of the global carbon cycle. Forests trap carbon (roughly 15.6 billion metric tons/yr), protect local watersheds, and at scale can even affect regional and global weather patterns.  They are storehouses of the biodiversity that we draw on for medicines, pollinators for our crops, and soil enrichment that feed our managed food systems.

These are all “ecosystem services” that our economies depend on directly. Yet for as long as our economies have existed, we have assigned those ecosystem services a dollar value of zero, while the extraction of forest products is calculated at their market value.  This one-sided equation used to determine how we should use forests has resulted in a historical rate of forest loss that is, not only destroying forests, but also pumping about 8 Gigatons of carbon into the atmosphere every single year.

But if living healthy forests have a market value, not only for the products they can provide but for the ecosystem services that we also gain from them, then the one-sided equation starts to shift dramatically.

The GCF Task Force embraces this as an opportunity, and one where states and provinces that house tropical forests are critically important decisionmakers and implementers. Subnational governments weren’t always spart of the conversation on the fate of forests. Despite having tremendous responsibility and proximity to what actually happens to forests on the ground, subnational jurisdictions were often overlooked or simply constrained by a lack of resources, capacity, and mandate.

Fifteen years later, the GCF’s membership now represents 85% of the world’s tropical forest area.  Indigenous and local communities, non-profits of all stripes, scientists, and the private sector are engaged as well. In Brazil, where are nine Amazon states have been active and collaborative members for years, federal policy on forests and carbon markets is now aligning with the efforts that governors sustained during the difficult years of the previous federal administration. As the next host of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in the Amazonian State of Pará, the Brazilian federal government showcased this collaboration with the presence and engagement of Minister of Environment Marina Silva in the plenary, to the thrill of the conference hall.

Subnational jurisdictions are also part of the global conversation on governance and private markets.  And the world is working out, not if forests should be economically valued for the ecosystem services they provide, but precisely how we will do so in the most equitable, effective, and accurate ways possible, while recognizing the need to build sustainable economies on what forests help to produce.

So, what is GeoOptics’ role here? This was not my first GCF annual meeting – I’ve attended a few over the years. But it was my first meeting looking through a private sector and a technology lens.  We know that the private sector is a critical partner in making markets for ecosystem services like carbon storage happen. While governments frame their forest and carbon market policy, the success of market-based approaches for forests will ultimately lie with the markets. At GeoOptics, we believe we will be able to expand what is possible with markets for forests and other ecosystem carbon.  By enabling better measurement at lower cost, our technology can massively expand the potential of nature-based solutions, but we are only at the leading edge of what we believe this technology can do.

With years of experience in the forest carbon realm, I’m well aware that technology is not a singular solution – but arming practitioners with the best data available sure does help. It’s also critical to recognize that the best technology in the world won’t have an impact if it doesn’t fill the right needs, or only a handful of people can use it. That’s why partnerships are critical. We want partners, not only to demonstrate a technology’s capability, but to expand that capability  so that it is usable by everyone, from remote sensing and machine learning experts to community forest managers using a handheld device.

I could think of no better place to jump into the deep end on forests and nature-based solutions than the GCF Task Force in the Brazilian Amazon – and this year’s meeting delivered. Stay tuned for further reflections on this journey from our fearless CEO, Alex Saltman.

June is World Ocean Month, a time to reflect on the vast expanse of our planet covered by water. With over 70 percent of the Earth’s surface consisting of oceans and a staggering 97 percent of our water being oceanic, the importance of protecting these life-sustaining resources cannot be overstated.

At GeoOptics, we recognize the pivotal role that understanding our oceans plays in maintaining the Earth’s ecosystems. Leveraging satellite technology, we plan to observe and monitor Earth’s oceans through altimetry, scatterometry, and synthetic aperture radar. This capability will allow us to assess the state of our oceans and their impact on the environment, and empower scientists, policymakers, industries, and citizens to make informed decisions regarding climate change mitigation and ocean conservation efforts.

In response to growing demands for oceanic data, policymakers and regulators are turning to the scientific community and commercial satellite industry for guidance. GeoOptics stands at the forefront, a leader in new technologies for ocean monitoring. As the first company to provide NOAA with operational commercial radio occultation (RO) data from space, we are pioneers in the field. In addition, our collaboration with the National Oceanographic Partnership Program is yielding new technologies to observe ocean vector winds, topography, soil moisture, and various surface properties through innovative radar techniques.

We remain committed to preserving the health of our oceans and waterways. And commercial satellite technologies play a crucial role in safeguarding these precious resources for future generations.

Join us this World Ocean Month as we continue our mission to protect and sustain our planet’s vital waters. Visit our website for more information.

The recent U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26) brought together leaders from 120 countries and more than 40,000 stakeholders and media to discuss all aspects of climate change, including the policies and regulatory solutions that can bring the world to a more sustainable, low carbon future.

 

Some of the hottest temperatures in recent history were recorded in 2023. Extreme weather impacts every daily life and beyond – agriculture, food and water supply, as well as effecting power grids, and critical national security infrastructures.  Satellite technologies play a critical role in monitoring and mitigating weather and changes to Earth, especially in extreme conditions. Remote sensing from satellites provide actionable, near-real time information to determine the state of our planet, the evolving climate, and the impacts of human activity on quality of life and on Earth’s future.

 

Measuring the effects of climate change and the impact of human choices on the Earth’s climate is currently difficult, but new techniques will enable the agreements and efforts of the future. GeoOptics has been measuring the Earth’s atmosphere since our first satellites took flight in 2018. In 2023 we have been developing some exciting new technologies that can measure climate impacts on a human scale, on the surface of the Earth, as well.

 

Please check out our new website visuals here and technical information here.

 

Best wishes for a wonderful 2024!

The commercial earth observation sector continues to expand its capabilities in providing technologies and services that are critical to daily life on our planet. Technologies from GeoOptics and others have improved the frequency and resolution of data, resulting in increasing accuracy in predicting, monitoring, and mitigating threats to our nation’s infrastructure, the environment, and critical industries. For example, measuring and monitoring the atmosphere, space weather, water, and drought are critical to government and private sector scientists, operations decision makers, climatologists, and other stakeholders in predicting weather systems and preparing for the impact of climate change.

It’s been an extradinordinary 2022 for our company which included the formation of GeoOptics’s unified Earth observatory that will allow governments, industry, and individual stakeholders to monitor and prepare for the many impacts of climate change. GeoOptics was awarded a contract to provide space weather data from its earth observation satellites for National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Commercial Weather Data Program.

In early November, GeoOptics was awarded a contract to provide NASA with the high-quality data from its radio occultation satellites for evaluation to determine their suitability for advancing NASA’s science and application goals. The data will be available for NASA researchers looking into climate change, weather, space weather, and other applications.

The GeoOptics teams in the U.S. and in Lausanne, Switzerland have been preparing for these expanded services and our ongoing work to ensure continued accuracy, timely monitoring and analysis of Earth observation data. This includes generating Global Navigation Satellite System Radio Occultation (GNSS-RO) data from our CICERO satellites and providing real-time monitoring data to government agencies and commercial customers around the globe.

2023 will hold countless new opportunities as we continue to develop advanced technologies and services that will expand capabilities even further.

We wish all our customers, partners, colleagues, friends, and families best wishes for the holidays and a prosperous New Year.

The world’s oceans cover more than 70 percent of our planet and contain 97 percent of the Earth’s water. Protecting, conserving, maintaining, and rebuilding our oceans and its ecosystems is critical to life today and to future generations. As part of this global effort and National Oceans Month, Oregon Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici introduced a bi-partisan sponsored congressional resolution, H. Res. 1158, committing to increasing investments in scientific research and monitoring to better understand our changing oceans. GeoOptics supports this important Resolution.

GeoOptics is committed to monitoring our oceans and freshwater resources. Our first CICERO-2 satellites launched last month and will study the world’s oceans in great detail, examining winds, waves, the atmopshere and the ocean surface.

GeoOptics was the first commercial satellite company to provide data to NOAA’s operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) forecasts and continues to work with NOAA and other agencies to improve forecasts around the world. Taking care of the health and welfare of our oceans and waterways is critical, and commercial satellite technologies are leading the way.

GeoOptics founder, Tom Yunck, participated in the recent National Academy of Sciences workshop on its report, Leveraging Commercial Space for Earth and Ocean Remote Sensing, emphasizing the commercial satellite capabilities that exist today and technologies on the horizon.