The following is the abstract that we presented at the 35th International Geographical Congress in Dublin, Ireland, last 24-30th August (IGC2024).
Authors
Corrado Grappiolo1,Veeresh Gurusiddappa1, Saad Shahid1, Aimée Lally2, Oisín Boydell1, Shane Regan3, Eoghan Holohan4, and Alexis Hrysiewicz4
- 1CeADAR, School of Computer Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- 2Unaffiliated, Galway, Ireland
- 3National Parks and Wildlife Service, DublinIreland
- 4School of Earth Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland (eoghan.holohan@ucd.ie)
Abstract
Peatlands are terrestrial wetland ecosystems found at all latitudes. Historically undervalued, their role in relation to climate change and biodiversity preservation has prompted a change in their perception, as they can function as either effective GreenHouse Gas (GHG) storages (when in good conditions) or GHG emitters (when degraded). Monitoring and quantifying peatland condition is of paramount importance.
Despite their value, most scientific research work suffer from scaling issues: the focus is often on few well-studied sites — whilst Peatlands cover about 487M ha. globally — and their timescales greatly differ from those required for peatland condition monitoring (few years as opposed to decades). Researchers, local communities and policy makers tend to work independently from each other with limited awareness of each other’s activities. There is a need for a stronger, more durable and multi-directional communication between the aforementioned stakeholders and, equally importantly, citizens.
Motivated by these challenges and needs, we embarked on a journey to develop PeatSense, which aims to become a full-fledged online collaborative platform where peatland stakeholders of different domains can share data and knowledge. Furthermore, PeatSense leverages remote sensing and Artificial Intelligence to gather insights at scale. Currently, PeatSense centres its attention mainly on the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and its beta release is expected to occur in early spring 2024. Its roadmap includes, among others, the expansion of its scope beyond ROI and the development of citizen science applications. We also argue that PeatSense can be a blueprint for any other ecosystem-focused, multi-disciplinary collaborative efforts.
Note
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