Leveraging EO for Security and Resilience

The ESA Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes has been actively leveraging satellite-based environmental information to address fragility contexts, focusing on areas such as environmental crimes, crimes against humanity, cross-border crimes, and onset of crises. Over the past decade, ESA has explored digital intelligence crime analysis by employing advanced data mining and machine learning tools to uncover hidden patterns and relationships in historical crime datasets, enabling better detection, prediction, and prevention of criminal activities.

Despite these advancements, the integration of Earth Observation (EO) capabilities into investigative practices remains limited. This is due to several challenges, including low awareness of EO's potential, a lack of illustrative use cases showcasing its benefits, inconsistencies in satellite data collection compared to investigative needs, high costs of very high-resolution imagery, and restricted access to national intelligence sources. To overcome these barriers, ESA has been investigating strategies to systematically incorporate EO-derived information into investigative frameworks also as legal evidence, aiming to enhance situational awareness and support stakeholders in developing procedures to exploit EO and OSINT for addressing international crimes and assessing fragility contexts, in cooperation with international organizations including Interpol, UNODC and ICC.

Recent developments in EO technology and methodologies have created significant opportunities for more impactful applications. ESA has focused on tailoring EO-based services and OSINT to meet the case-sensitive requirements of security and development end-users, enabling better integration of EO-derived insights into intelligence models. These efforts include developing advanced EO information products that go beyond routine offerings, testing and evaluating these products in collaboration with end-users, and demonstrating their value in operational settings.

The GDA Fragility, Conflict, and Security initiative has been a cornerstone of ESA’s work, involving partnerships with International Financial Institutions (IFIs) to co-design tools that provide precise and timely information. These tools have supported initiatives aimed at reducing inequalities, promoting economic development, and enhancing environmental safety in fragile and conflict or post conflict-affected areas. By combining geospatial data with diverse data sources, ESA has delivered customized analyses and reports to improve emerging threats analysis and decision-making processes.

Several ESA initiatives have demonstrated the benefits of EO services for assessing fragility risk exposure, characterizing dynamic needs in fragile contexts, planning post-conflict reconstruction, and managing natural resources. ESA constantly engages with stakeholders, including the OECD, security organizations, and humanitarian actors, and its community of industries and research centres to promote the adoption of EO in international development, humanitarian aid, and peacebuilding. Through these efforts, ESA continues to advance the role of EO in supporting justice, accountability, and sustainable recovery in fragile settings.