Connecting Space to Village - How the SERVIR Program Bridges the Gap between Science and End User Needs in Africa, the Americas, and Asia

Originally established in Mesoamerica in early 2005, the NASA / USAID program now has activities in six regions of the world, working in collaboration with regional centers of excellence (SERVIR ‘hubs’) which leverage Earth observation data to address development challenges, in so doing “connecting space to village” (i.e., the program’s motto). Across the program’s implementation, activities have shifted from initially providing satellite-derived datasets and model outputs for environmental decision support to co-creation and co-development, with stakeholders, of medium- to long-term services across five thematic focus areas. Across its international network, SERVIR’s activities are likewise guided by a 2020-2025 strategic plan which aligns with strategic guidance documents from NASA and USAID, including the NASA Earth to Action Strategy, and the USAID Climate Strategy. The SERVIR program also operates synergistically with its similarly long-standing sister ‘program elements’ of the Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET) and DEVELOP, from the NASA Earth Action Capacity Building Program, with all three program elements focusing on strengthening stakeholder capacities. Toward that goal of strengthening end user capacity, the program has also engaged in partnerships with other US Government institutions and initiatives, international organizations, NGOs, academic institutions, and the private sector. With almost twenty years of activities across multiple continents under its belt, the SERVIR program has documented many lessons learned in terms of strengthening capacity and bridging the gap between science and data and end user needs. In the spirit of this session’s overarching objectives, this presentation will specifically focus on those lessons learned, with a perspective on how those lessons might be applied to other programs and contexts.

Satellite-based ET mapping for improved water and nutrient management in the Magic Valley

Anticipating Hazard Impacts through Capacity Building and Co-development

Improving forecast accuracy, extending lead time, understanding hazard susceptibility, and integrating exposure and vulnerability data to generate impact-based forecasts are critical in mitigating disaster impacts. These efforts enable anticipatory action through enhancing the efficacy of early warning systems to assess potential multi-dimensional hazard impacts. In response to this need, SERVIR has co-developed a series of hazard services providing vital information from national to regional scales. This poster showcases examples of geospatial services co-developed with partners through a capacity building approach, supporting the establishment of hazard early warning / early action systems. These services integrate multidimensional vulnerability and exposure data to comprehensively assess impacts. Furthermore, these services demonstrate how co-development and capacity building can advance the development of impact-based forecasts and multi-hazards services. By prioritizing collaboration, human insights, local knowledge, capacity building, and employing applied science approaches in geospatial service development, this work has helped create inclusive and customized solutions. These solutions are tailored to meet the needs of local communities and are readily adaptable into decision-making processes.

WEBINAR | Floods, Droughts, and Water Security- How is Water Data Critical to Climate Resilience?

This webinar explores the ways USAID and NASA are working with partners to use water data for improved climate resilience. NASA Science Coordination Office Water Security Lead Chinmay Deval moderates a panel discussion with water experts from across the SERVIR global network.

Targeted Forestry Management in the Lake Tahoe Basin with WEPPcloud and PI-VAT

The growing size and frequency of wildfires in the Western US has pressed a sense of urgency on the Forest Service, other land management agencies and many municipalities on developing fuel management and post-fire mitigation plans. With fuel management practices there is a risk that the management process itself (e.g. thinning and prescribed fire) might lead to more long term erosion compared to doing nothing and gambling that the forest will not be burned by a wildfire. After a wildfire occurs, managers must balance the risk of post-fire erosion with the expense required to protect the soil from an extreme event with an agricultural or wood-based mulch. In the Tahoe basin, we have been using a site-specific, process-based erosion model, WEPPcloud, to identify landscape positions that are most susceptible to erosion by thinning operations or under post-fire wildfire conditions. The WEPPcloud model was used to evaluate the probability of erosion under current undisturbed conditions, various timber harvesting scenarios, prescribed fire, and post-wildfire conditions. The distribution of soil burn severity for future wildfires was simulated using a trained geostatistical approach based on historic regional wildfires. Using WEPPcloud and a newly developed post-processing R shiny app, PI-VAT, which allows prioritization and targeting analysis across multiple watersheds and multiple treatment scenarios, we map the specific hillslopes that are most sensitive to disturbance and provide an optimization approach to guide managers and land use planners in selecting the areas which provide the greatest reduction in sediment load through erosion mitigation activities. Using various statistical analyses, we identify the key soil, vegetative, topographic, and climatic factors that best describe the distributed soil erosion potential following fuel management throughout the basin. Through this analysis we provide recommendations to guide future fuel management based on measurable landscape characteristics. We analyzed sensitive landscape characteristics such as slope length, soil steepness, soil depth, and mean annual precipitation, among other variables, and their effects on soil erosion. Results are displayed in a variety of interactive graphs, tables and descriptive text which aid managers in interpretation. The WEPPcloud analysis and interpretation with the PI-VAT tool was applied to the Lake Tahoe basin to assess the key soil and landscape characteristics driving soil erosion in the basin. Of particular interest to managers in the basin was the sensitivity between soil erosion and slope steepness. The analysis revealed slope steepness, slope length, and annual precipitation drive much of the variability and suggest spatially explicit timber harvest recommendations based on these factors would minimize the risk of erosion following timber harvest for fuel management. These tools provide managers with access to complex result into easy-to-use information for decision making.