FOSS4G-Asia 2023 Seoul

Identifying the current ecosystem extent and the underlying economic activities and opportunities therein requires spatial analysis utilizing the most recent data. This is made possible with the use of Earth Observation (EO) data retrieved from multi-spectral satellite imagery openly available to the public domain through the Copernicus and Landsat program of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) respectively. EO data has several advantages. It is supported by national governments, and inter-governmental agencies maintaining access to the data publicly available. It is free and open for use by researchers, governments, and by the commercial sector. The project areas are three municipalities in the island of Mindoro, Region IV-B MIMAROPA, Philippines. Specifically in the province of Occidental Mindoro. The three municipalities are the provincial capital, the Municipality of Mamburao, and the other two are the Municipalities of Rizal and Sablayan. The World Wide Fund for Nature – Philippines (WWF) commissioned the Community Environmental Economic and Social Accounting Matrix (CEESAM) study for these three municipalities in support of its expanded sustainable livelihood project for Tuna production and fisherfolk. This study’s component for spatial analysis is in support of the CEESAM for these municipalities. In summary, the study produced a land cover classification map achieving an average overall accuracy of 80% computed for all three municipalities. This is a good result since the accepted practice of achieving an overall accuracy within that 80% range is commendable. Processing the land cover classification was complemented with in situ observations using aerial imagery from light commercial drones and from ground based mobile imagery through QFIELD. Referencing the different imagery from earth observation data to aerial drone imagery, and ground based field observations led to the identification of spatial challenges and opportunities per municipality.
The study presented a workflow with a use-case for utilizing earth observation data using the latest and available update satellite imagery, complemented by in situ observations from aerial drone imagery and mobile field mapping app QFIELD. Also, the municipalities included in the study have common issues with regards to intermittent power interruption. Disruption in this vital utility slows down the production of any processing or cold chain facilities. Agricultural production primarily focus on annual crops for staples such as rice and corn. Mono cropping dominates the agricultural landscape with pockets of perennial crops which have room to integrate with traditional agriculture. Some areas have unfinished or unpaved farm to market roads. This results to inefficient logistics for the farmers in taking their produce to market. This could also add additional cost for them. Further, there is still a need for improving on post-harvest and post-catch support for farmers and fisherfolk with regards to facilities and market linkage facilitation.