Societal Benefit Areas
The Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs)[1] are nine environmental fields of interest around which the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) project is exerting its efforts. These include: Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate, Disasters, Ecosystems, Energy, Health, Water, and Weather around which a preliminary hierarchical vocabulary has been created. Each area has some related fields (fifty-eight in total) of interest addressed as subcategories [2] that specialise the goals of the entire project, the focus of the subcategories being mainly the relation between environmental issues and human activity and health.
One of the aims of GEOSS is to implement a proper system of earth monitoring and to render information deriving from this process available to a global range of users. Currently, the hierarchical vocabulary structuring these societal benefit categories and their subcategories are available only in English. However, translations have been created for French, Spanish and Italian versions by Claudia Cialone and Kristin Stock of the Centre for Geospatial Science (CGS) at the University of Nottingham, UK, with input from a number of people from the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) in Italy, the University of Zaragoza and the European Union Joint Research Centre (JRC). Translations have also been accomplished for a Slovenian version of the SBAs by the Biotehnical faculty of the University of Ljubljana, SI.
The GEOSS Societal Benefit Areas
Listed below is a brief summary of the Societal Benefit categories and subcategories excerpted from the GEO's 10-year plan.[3]
Disasters
This Area is meant to increase the system of the Earth observation to protect human lives from natural hazards such as Tsunami, sea and lake ice, floods, volcanic eruptions, wildland fires etc.
Health
The Health Societal Area is meant to understand and to prevent the environmental factors related to human diseases. Some subcategories included in this, concern infectious diseases, respiratory problems, environmental stress, accidental death and injury and so forth.
Energy
This Societal Benefit Area is concerned with the preservation and the operations related to energetic sources, and their renewability. Some examples of subcategories for this field are: oil & gas exploration, refining and transport operations, renewable energy operations, global energy management etc.
Climate
This area is concerned with the monitoring of the variability of climate and the consequent human adaptation to it. It therefore includes activities of understanding, assessment, mitigation of the climatic conditions of our planet.
Water
The Water topic is inherent to hydrological research, evaluation and management and the impact of humans on the water cycle. The area includes subfields of interest such as global biogeochemistry, fisheries and habitat, telecommunication and navigation, predictions etc.
Weather
This category provides information for nowcasting, short, long, and extended forecasts specific for each country. This would serve the purpose to prevent human lives losses in critical circumstances that are time-demanding.
Ecosystems
This benefit area is addressed to improve, by observing and managing, the different activities such as fishery or forestry dominating the terrestrial and hydrographical ecosystems. It is also thought to register and monitor any possible change in natural ecosystem cycles such as the carbon cycle.
Agriculture
This field of concern embraces all those agricultural activities, or related subjects such as grazing systems, the economic trade of agricultural products, for monitoring the global condition of food including the prevention of desertification.
Biodiversity
This area is meant to disseminate information related to the investigation on the genetic diversity of species and more generally on the natural resources of the different ecosystems and the services available for their conservation.
The Societal Benefit Areas and their translations
Note that the following table is a temporary translation. Anyone with a particular expertise in environmental and/or natural sciences can contribute with further (verified and checked) corrections of the versions already listed below.
| ENGLISH | ITALIAN | SPANISH | FRENCH | SLOVENIAN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disasters | Calamità | Desastres | Catastrophes | Nesreče |
| pollution events | eventi inquinanti | episodios de contaminación | pollution évènementielle | pojavi onesnaženja |
| coastal hazards, tsunami | rischio costiero, tsunami | peligros costeros, tsunamis | périls côtiers, tsunami | nevarnosti v priobalnem pasu, cunamiji |
| sea and lake ice | ghiaccio marino e lacustre | Hielo en mares y lagos | gel de la mer et de lac | morski in jezerski led |
| tropical cyclones | cicloni tropicali | ciclones tropicales | cyclones tropicaux | tropski cikloni |
| extreme weather | condizioni metereologiche estreme | condiciones meteorológicas extremas | Phénomène météo extrême | skrajni vremenski dogodki |
| floods | inondazioni | inundaciones/avenidas | inondations | poplave |
| landslides, subsidence | frane, subsidenza | deslizamientos de tierra, hundimientos | glissements de terrain, effondrements | zemeljski plazovi in posedanje |
| volcanoes, volcanic ash, aerosols | vulcani, ceneri vulcaniche, aerosol | volcanes, ceniza volcánica, aerosoles | volcans, cendres volcaniques, aérosols | vulkani, vulkanski pepel, aerosoli |
| earthquakes | terremoti | terremotos | tremblements de terre | potresi |
| wildland fires | incendi boschivi | incendios forestales | feu de broussailles et feu de forêtes | požari v naravnem okolju |
| Health | Salute | Salud | Santé | Zdravje |
| infectious diseases | malattie infettive | enfermedades infecciosas | maladies infectieuses | infekcijske bolezni |
| cancers | cancri | cáncer | cancers | rakasta obolenja |
| respiratory problems | difficoltà respiratorie | dificultades respiratorias | problèmes respiratoires | težave z dihanjem |
| environmental stress | stress ambientale | estrés ambiental | stress écologique | okoljski stres |
| nutrition | nutrizione | nutrición | nutrition | prehrana |
| accidental death and injury | morti e lesioni accidentali | muertes y lesiones accidentales | décès et blessure accidentelles | poškodbe in nesreče s smrtnim izidom |
| birth defects | difetti di nascita | enfermedades congénitas | anomalies congénitales | prirojene napake |
| Energy | Energia | Energía | Énergie | Energija |
| oil & gas exploration | esplorazione di petrolio e gas | exploración de petróleo y gas | exploration de pétrole et de gaz | iskanje nafte in zemeljskega plina |
| refining and transport operations | operazioni di raffinazione e trasporto | operaciones de refinado y transporte | opérations de l’épuration et la transportation | rafinacija in upravljanje prevozov fosilnih goriv |
| renewable energy operations | operazioni di energia rinnovabile | operaciones en energías renovables | opérations d’energie renouvelable | upravljanje z obnovljivimi viri energije |
| electricity generation | produzione di elettricità | producción de electricidad | production d’électricité | proizvodnja električne energije |
| global energy management | gestione dell’energia globale | gestión de la energía global | gestion de l’énergie mondiale | gospodarjenje z energijo na globalnem nivoju |
| Climate | Clima | Clima | Climat | Podnebje |
| understanding | comprensione | comprensión | compréhension | razumevanje |
| assessing | valutazioni | evaluación | évaluation | ocenjevanje |
| predicting | previsioni | predicción | prédiction | napovedovanje |
| adapting to | adattamento | adaptación | adaptation(au) | prilagajanje |
| mitigating | mitigazione | mitigación | diminution | blaženje |
| Water | Acqua | Agua | Eau | Voda |
| water cycle research | ricerca sul ciclo idrologico | investigación sobre el ciclo hidrológico | recherche sur le cycle de l’eau | raziskave vodnega kroga |
| resource management | gestione delle risorse | gestión de recursos hídricos | gestion des resources | gospodarjenje z vodnimi viri |
| impacts of humans on water cycle | impatto dell’uomo sul ciclo idrologico | impacto de la actividad humana en el ciclo hidrológico | impacts humains sur le cycle de l’eau | vpliv človeka na vodni krog |
| global biogeochemistry | biogeochimica globale | biogeoquímica global | biogéochimie mondiale | globalna biogeokemija |
| ecosystem and water quality assessment | valutazione della qualita’ dell’ ecosistema e dell’acqua | evaluación de la calidad del ecosistema y del agua | évaluation de la qualité de l’écosystème et de l’eau | ekosistemi in ocena kakovosti voda |
| land use planning | pianificazione dell’uso del territorio | ordenación del territorio | Urbanisme | načrtovanje rabe tal |
| production of food | produzione alimentare | producción alimentaria | production alimentaire | pridelava hrane |
| weather prediction | previsioni metereologiche | pronóstico meteorológico | prévision météorologique | napovedovanje vremena |
| heavy rainfall flood prediction | previsione di pioggia intensa ed inondazioni | predicción de lluvia torrencial e inundaciones | prévision des fortes précipitations et des inondations | napovedovanje poplav zaradi močnih padavin |
| drought prediction | previsione di siccità | predicción de sequías | prévision de la sécheresse | napovedovanje suš |
| climate prediction | previsioni climatiche | predicción climatológica | prévision climatique | napovedovanje podnebja |
| human health | salute dell’uomo | salud humana | santé humaine | zdravje ljudi |
| fisheries and habitat | pesca e habitat | pesca y hábitat | pêcheries et habitat | ribolovna območja in habitati |
| management | gestione | gestión | gestion | upravljanje |
| telecommunication - navigation | telecomunicazioni - navigazione | telecomunicaciones - navegación | télécommunications - navigation | telekomunikacije – navigacija |
| Weather | Tempo | Tiempo | Temps | Vreme |
| nowcasting forecasts (0 - 2 hs) | previsioni immediate (0 - 2 ore) | predicciones inmediatas (0 - 2 horas) | prévisiones immediate (0 - 2 hs) | zelo kratkoročne napovedi (0 - 2 uri) |
| very short-range forecasts (2 - 72 hs) | previsioni a brevissimo termine (2 - 72 ore) | predicciones a muy corto plazo (2 - 72 horas) | prévisiones à très court terme (2 - 72 hs) | kratkoročne napovedi (2 - 72 uri) |
| medium-range forecasts (3 – 10 days) | previsioni a medio termine (3 - 10 giorni) | predicciones a medio plazo (3 - 10 días) | prévisiones à moyen terme (3 - 10 jours) | srednjeročne napovedi (3-10 dni) |
| extended forecasts (10 – 30 days) | previsioni estese (10 - 30 giorni) | predicciones a largo plazo (10 - 30 días) | prévisiones à long terme (10 - 30 jours) | dolgoročne napovedi (10 - 30 dni) |
| Ecosystems | Ecosistemi | Ecosistemas | Écosystèmes | Ekosistemi |
| land, river, coast & ocean management | gestione territoriale, fluviale, costiera e marittima | gestión terrestre, fluvial, costera y marítima | gestion des terres, rivières, gestion côtière et océnanique | gospodarjenje s kopnim, rekami,obalami in oceni |
| agriculture, fisheries, forestry | agricoltura, pesca, attività forestali | agricultura, pesca, silvicultura | agriculture, pêcherie, sylviculture | kmetijstvo, ribištvo, gozdarstvo |
| carbon cycle | ciclo del carbonio | ciclo del carbono | cycle du carbone | ogljikov krog |
| Agriculture | Agricoltura | Agricultura | Agriculture | Kmetijstvo |
| food security | sicurezza alimentare | seguridad alimentaria | sécurité alimentaire | prehranska varnost |
| fisheries | pesca | pesca | pêcheries | ribogojstvo |
| timber, fuel and fiber | legname, combustibile e fibra | madera, combustible, y fibra | bois, combustibles et fibres | les ter energenti in vlakna iz kmetijske in gozdarske biomase |
| agricultural economy and trade | economia e mercato agricoli | economía y mercado agrícolas | économie et commerce agricoles | kmetijska ekonomika in trgovina |
| grazing systems | sistemi di pascolamento | sistemas de pastoreo | systèmes de pâturage | pašni sistemi |
| Biodiversity | Biodiversità | Biodiversidad | Biodiversité | Biodiverziteta |
| conservation | conservazione | conservación | conservation | ohranjanje |
| invasive species | specie invasive | especies invasoras | espèces invasives | invazivne vrste |
| migratory species | specie migratorie | especies migratorias | espèces migratrices | selitvene vrste |
| natural resources and services | risorse naturali e servizi | recursos naturales y servicios | resources naturelles et services des écosystèmes | naravni viri in storitve |
See also
References
External links
- Group on Earth Observation GEOSS on-line
- GEO portal
- GEO FAC