ADOPT

ADOPT aims to define, prototype and test a service for the production, analysis and dissemination of climate change impact indicators for the Occitan Regional Nature Parks and their territories. These indicators are designed via a Living Lab approach and use data from Earth observation satellites.

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Great pearly butterfly © G. Dedieu

Earth Observation Data Applications for Regional Nature Parks and their Territories

OVERVIEW

ADOPT (Applications of Earth Observation Data for Regional Nature Parks and their Territories) aims to support the work of Regional Nature Parks (NRP) and their partners by using remote sensing resources to monitor and evaluate the actions planned in their charters, provide indicators of the impacts of changes, particularly climate change, and develop adaptation scenarios.

France has 56 Regional Nature Parks which, grouped together in the Federation of Regional Nature Parks of France, fulfill five missions defined by article R333-1 of the Environmental Code:

the protection and management of natural, cultural and landscape heritage,
land use planning,
economic and social development,
reception, education and information,
experimentation, innovation.

Representing 15.5% of the surface area of France and 6% of its population, the NRP's vocation is to establish economic and social development of the territory, while preserving and enhancing the natural, cultural and landscape heritage. The richness of the Parks lies in the transversality they demonstrate, by integrating biodiversity issues into their territorial projects. © PNR

As true territories of experimentation, the NRP implement innovative policies and are committed to anticipating the effects of climate change on these remarkable heritages. This commitment is reflected in the NRP charters, which specify the objectives and actions of each partner (including elected officials) over a 15-year period, including the necessary monitoring and evaluation mechanisms (Article R333-3). The diagnosis of the territories concerned is a major element of this monitoring and evaluation process and ultimately of continuous improvement.

In order to develop products and services adapted to the needs, the Adopt project associates three cooperative and participative companies (SCOP) specialized in remote sensing, geomatics and implementation of Living Labs as well as the 9 NRP of the Occitanie region. The latter present a great diversity of environments, from the Mediterranean lagoons of the Narbonnaise to the Arcouzan glacier, favourable to the subsequent generalization of the project results.

ADOPT fits into the framework provided by the NRP Charters, some of which are currently being revised or will be in the near future. For this purpose, a co-construction approach to indicators and services in LivingLab mode is favored, involving the NRP and their stakeholders (members of the Development Councils, Scientific Councils, etc.).

The workshops planned for the first year are intended to identify, in an iterative way, the subjects and indicators for which spatial data provide real added value under realistic and acceptable implementation conditions and, if possible, of general interest. It is not only a question of collecting data and producing indicators, it is also important to work on their interpretation and analysis in order to be able to formulate hypotheses on impacts or adaptation policies. During this phase, the project will rely on existing remote sensing products, on specific developments and on their integration into a WebGIS, a translation, mediation and representation tool for the actors. Relationships will be established as needed with entities such as research laboratories, the Pyrenean Observatory of Climate Change (OPCC), the French Office of Biodiversity (OFB) and the Regional Agency of Biodiversity.

Example of products that can be used in the process of co-construction of indicators of change impacts. © LaTeleScop/E2L/CESBIO/Theia

The second year of the project will be mainly devoted to the production of the selected indicators in all the partner NRP, to the evaluation of the results, to the definition of an operational service and to the training, if necessary, of some actors in the handling of the proposed service. In addition to the workshops aimed at refining the indicators and services, other sessions will be devoted to the collective evaluation of the results, the plan to perpetuate the services and the possible extension to all the French NRP and potentially to all the territories interested in the indicators of the impacts of climate change: National Parks, managers of nature reserves, Coastal conservatory (Conservatoire du Littoral), conservatories of natural areas, national botanical conservatories, etc. A day of restitution open to a large public will be organized.

APPLICATION SITE(S)

The Occitanie region was chosen because of the geographical locations of the structures involved, the knowledge of the actors and the diversity of the environments. The 7 classified NRP and the two NRP in creation occupy 25% of the surface of the Region and gather 884 municipalities.

DATA

Satellite

The service will integrate data and products with national coverage distributed by Theia, Dinamis, the CopernicusClimateChange Service (C3S), the USGS and NASA. This spatialized information will be assembled in a Geographic Information System (GIS) and a WebGIS in order to establish a shared diagnosis and to support workshops and analyses.

Other

ADOPT also plans to use data from public databases (maps, statistics...), field surveys, model results and climate projections (DRIAS).

RESULTS - FINAL PRODUCTS

The definition, realization and evaluation of products and services is the challenge of the project. Products that document the evolution of environments, pressures (e.g. water availability) and their impacts on biodiversity correspond to common needs of the NRP.

With the open source WebGIS interface, the general philosophy of ADOPT is, except in special cases, free access to the results of the project: information system architecture, data, products, software, methods, documents.