ALOS will provide advanced data to help Latin America better adapt to climate threats

Terra Daily: Up-to-the-minute-data and expertise derived from the Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS) developed and operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will contribute a better formulation of measures to adapt to climate change threats in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to an agreement signed today between JAXA and the World Bank.

ALOS will be used by the World Bank as an effective tool to detect changes in vulnerable ecosystems region wide. ALOS capabilities will enhance the World Bank's adaptation initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Using highly advanced instrumentation, ALOS capabilities includes capturing high resolution photos of land cover and natural resources. ALOS images and data will be used in support of World Bank adaptation projects in Colombia, Mexico, the Andes region of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador and the West Indies. Images taken by ALOS of the tropical glaciers in the Andes are already being facilitated and used for the assessment of glacier dynamics under an adaptation project in the region.

"It represents a big step forward for our institution and our partners to have access to a state of the art system capable of high resolution imaging," says Laura Tuck, World Bank Regional Director for Sustainable Development. "Climate change impacts will impose a heavy tax on the economies of the region, in particular on the poor. Adaptation to climate change is key given the severe and largely irreversible effects in the region," Tuck added....

Latin America from space, NASA, Wikimedia Commons