Preface: Earth Observations for Environmental Sustainability for the Next Decade

Abstract

Evidence of the rapid degradation of the Earth’s natural environment has grown in recent years. Sustaining our planet has become the greatest concern faced by humanity. Of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Earth observations have been identified as major contributors to nine of them: 2 (Zero Hunger), 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production), 13 (Climate Action), 14 (Life Below Water), and 15 (Life on Land). Achieving the SDGs by turning knowledge into action is the critical challenge for scientists and other subject matter experts throughout the world. This monograph, Earth Observations for Environmental Sustainability for the Next Decade, gathers original viewpoints and knowledge advances in the use of Earth observations to address a number of urgent issues of great concern for humanity, including land use/land cover (LULC) classification [1], debris-flow assessment [2,3], precipitation estimates [4], drought assessment [5], hyperspectral image classification [6], Kuroshio-induced wakes [7], sea water primary production [8], weather system (tropical cyclone) interaction [9], and habitat suitability and biodiversity conservation [10]. In this editorial, a brief overview of the collected papers is presented.