On 11 October 2024, the CopPhil Centre hosted an online Co-Creation Workshop, bringing together 19 participants from eight key Philippine institutions to discuss their needs in terms of use of Earth Observation data and services in the country. The outcomes of the workshop will inform the future activities of the CopPhil Centre to foster the uptake of Copernicus open data in Philippines, increasing the country’s ability to address climate vulnerability and biodiversity conservation while improving hazard management and resilience.
The workshop kicked-off with an introduction to CopPhil’s initial training framework and training platform hosted by the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) on the CopPhil website. This platform will support CopPhil’s upcoming training sessions for Philippine stakeholders, the first of which will take place on 25 November 2024. Additionally, representatives from the teams developing the CopPhil Earth Observation-based pilot services presented the three thematic areas (Ground Motion Monitoring, Land Cover, Forest & Crop Mapping, and Coastal Marine Habitat Monitoring) which are being addressed, as well as potential use cases of how the services can meet the environmental challenges specific to the Philippines.
Participants then engaged in a skills gap analysis to assess how Earth Observation data is currently leveraged across institutions in the Philippines. They shared their goals and learning needs in breakout sessions aiming to identify opportunities and challenges in the thematic area of each pilot service. Finally, a session was dedicated to developing user personas to help explore the ways in which the CopPhil Centre can best support institutional stakeholders. This analysis will guide the development of targeted training to better equip Philippine institutions with the necessary skills to use Copernicus data more effectively.
Key takeaways from the workshop include the relevance of Earth Observation services for various authorities in the Philippines, along with the strong interest in building skills and knowledge around Copernicus open data and its integration into existing operational workflows.
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