Masami Onoda is currently the U.S. and multilateral relations interface at the International Relations and Research Department of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Fellow of the Institute of Global Environmental Strategies and Advisor to the space debris start-up Astroscale Pte Ltd. Dr. Onoda has been engaged in international coordination of satellite programs including serving on the Secretariat of the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations in Geneva, Switzerland, and earlier as the Secretariat of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites. She has also supported technology transfer to SMEs for a small satellite project. She holds a Ph.D. in Global Environmental Studies and a Master’s degree in environmental management from the Kyoto University Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Tokyo.
Oran R. Young is a renowned Arctic expert and a world leader in the fields of international governance and environmental institutions. His scientific work encompasses both basic research focusing on collective choice and social institutions, and applied research dealing with issues pertaining to international environmental governance and the Arctic as an international region. Professor Young served for 6 years as vice-president of the International Arctic Science Committee and was the founding chair of the Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change within the National Academy of Sciences in the U.S. He currently chairs the Scientific Committee of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change and the Steering Committee of the Arctic Governance Project.
The result of a workshop bringing together an international advisory board of experts in science, satellite technologies, industry innovations, and public policy, this book addresses the current and future roles of satellite Earth observations in solving large-scale environmental problems. The book showcases the results of engaging distinct communities to enhance our ability to identify emerging problems and to administer international regimes created to solve them. It also reviews the work of the Policy and Earth Observation Innovation Cycle (PEOIC) project, an effort aimed at assessing the impact of satellite observations on environmental policy and to propose a mission going forward that would launch an “innovation cycle”. The achievements of such a mission would feed back to innovations in next-generation observation technology, thus contributing to global policy demand for policy-relevant information.