Yared Tessema, Ciara Varley, Angharad Johnston, Charles Spillane
5th – 7th June 2024
LEG4DEV researcher Yared Tessema attended the second annual Mary Robinson Climate Conference between the 5th and 7th of June 2024 at the Mary Robinson Centre in Ballina, Co Mayo, Ireland.
The second annual conference entitled “A Shared Response to A Shared Responsibility” brought together actors from different sectors, including activists, community and industry leaders, farmers, policymakers, NGOs, researchers and youth. The event aimed to facilitate an opportunity for stakeholders working across different areas of climate action to explore collaborative efforts to mitigate climate change and enhance sustainability in various sectors such as food systems, education and renewable energy.
The meeting commenced with an opening ceremony featuring a keynote speech from former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson. In her speech, Dr. Robinson highlighted the urgent need for innovative solutions to address climate change and the need for a shared response to these challenges.
Key topics covered at the conference included renewable energy, climate policy, sustainable agriculture and technological advancements in climate science, including the work of LEG4DEV on satellite remote sensing application for measuring and identifying legumes in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In the session ‘Tracking Climate Adaptation and Mitigation in Agricultural Systems using Satellite Remote Sensing’, LEG4DEV researcher Yared Mesfin presented “Satellite Remote Sensing and Probabilistic Modeling for Identification & Measurement of Legume Cropping in Malawi”
Yared outlined his research with LEG4DEV which uses satellite remote sensing to identify and map groundnut cropland. Legumes play a crucial role in agricultural sustainability and food security. However, climate-related challenges and a poor supply chain are hindering the scaling progress. This is further compounded by a lack of real-time legume cropland information.
The research presented at the conference aims to address this problem by identifying and mapping groundnut croplands in near real-time from remote sensing data. The research can be utilized to improve the accuracy of cropland mapping, supporting better decision-making in the supply chain and enhancing progress towards food security, a key goal for the LEG4DEV project.
The Mary Robinson Climate Conference serves as an opportunity for voices across sectors including research, academia, industry and activism to meet and share next steps for climate adaption and mitigation. LEG4DEV research showcasing the application of satellite remote sensing to identify and map groundnut cropland in Malawi provided relevant insights into the potential remote sensing can play in creating robust and sustainable food systems.
LEG4DEV researchers will continue to expand upon this research, providing useful research insights into the role of remote sensing for sustainable food systems and legume value chains, while also creating on-the-ground benefits for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.
You can learn more about the Mary Robinson Climate Conference on the official website, or explore LEG4DEV research, innovation and development projects across the LEG4DEV project website.