Eyes in the skies

Eyes in the skies
“Satellites are not spies in the skies but tools to enable farmers to observe their existing practices, better use their land and protect their area’s biodiversity”.
That was the message from leading expert Professor Richard Lucas at a meeting of the Maesmawr Group which is the lead organisation in the “Nature and People – Working Together” landscape collaboration project.
Professor Lucas of Aberystwyth University has recently presented at the world climate change summit COP26 held in Glasgow.
At the meeting in Montgomeryshire, he told the audience, which included farming families, spanning the generations, that new projects such as Living Wales provided maps and information that could really benefit their businesses and environments, especially in response to the effects of climate change and the need for carbon storage.
Living Wales uses state of the art satellite technology to observe Earth and monitor the evolution of the Welsh landscape and is funded by the Ser Cymru programme within Welsh Government. There is a permanent exhibition gallery at the Centre for Alternative Technology near Machynlleth.
Professor Lucas has also been working with the European Space Agency to map forests around the world and showed the group how an area of rain forest the size of the British Isles had been felled in a state in Western Amazonia, with this de-forestation contributing significantly to climate change.
Chair of the Nature and People Steering Group Rowan Jones, who farms near Llanidloes, welcomed the presentation. “It was great to see how you can use the information to monitor, forecast and model your farming practices, “ he said. “We look forward to further learning and liaison with the Living Wales project.”
Nature and People – Working Together (slogan “Nature and Us”) has received financial support from the Sustainable Management Scheme through the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government. It is a two year project and a collaboration over 17,240 acres in the Upper Severn catchment, between 40 farming partners, Natural Resources Wales, Coed Cymru, Powys Nature Partnership and water company Hafren Dyfrdwy as well as other local organisations and schools.