The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes adaptation as the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects, in order to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. With over 1 degree Celsius of global warming already experienced, adapting to current and future climate changes is now of far greater focus for all levels of policymaking than ever before. Yet, the IPCC and the UNEP-WASP Adaptation Gap Reports (2023) both conclude that despite progress, adaptation gaps exist and will continue to grow at current rates of implementation.

More recently, the UNFCCC had agreed a set of 59 Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) Indicators, of which, monitoring, evaluation and learning is one of the four core targets. The text states that by 2030, all Parties have designed, established and operationalized a system for monitoring, evaluation and learning for their national adaptation efforts and have built the required institutional capacity to fully implement the system.
Satellite Earth Observation (EO) revolutionized systemic observations and has played a pivotal role in understanding climate changes to date, yet its potential to support adaptation is only beginning to be explored. EO has great potential for supporting climate action across all stages of the adaptation process, greater than what is already being achieved today.

This session will highlight ongoing research projects that use EO to plan, monitor and/or evaluate climate change adaptation across a multitude of scales and sectors.
References
IPCC, 2022: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, 3056 pp., doi:10.1017/9781009325844.
Connors, S., Schneider, R., Nalau, J. et al. Earth observations for climate adaptation: tracking progress towards the Global Goal on Adaptation through satellite-derived indicators. npj Clim Atmos Sci 8, 359 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-01251-1
United Nations Environment Programme (2023). Adaptation Gap Report 2023: Underfinanced. Underprepared. Inadequate investment and planning on climate adaptation leaves world exposed. Nairobi. https://doi.org/10.59117/20.500.11822/43796
The UNFCCC Global Goal on Adaptation Indicators: https://unfccc.int/topics/adaptation-and-resilience/workstreams/gga