Mallon is delighted to announce that we have secured a new European Space Agency EO Clinic Project.
Working in partnership with 2 other companies, Planetek Hellas and SERTIT, Mallon will help deliver a project titled: ‘Assessment of the Potential of Gum and Resin–Bearing Tree Species in Ethiopia‘.
Project Background
The project has its roots in a desire to support measures that help smallholders become involved in the supply chains for gums and resins. These are saps and exudates of indigenous tree species, such as frankincense, myrrh or Gum Arabic. Such products are traded on international markets and find applications in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.
Previous studies have shown that such natural resources are underutilised in Ethiopia, but there is a significant potential to provide these products. EO has the potential to help better understand the amount, health and distribution of natural gum/resin resources in the country, with some of the priority geospatial needs identified as:
- Size of natural resource
- Tree/population health status
- Tree/Species distribution
- Tree regeneration
- Density of strands
- Maturity of trees
Project Delivery
This project has been split into 3 separate services and include:
- Service 1 – Classification of Gum and Resin–Bearing Tree Species
- Service 2 – Assessment of Vegetation Health
- Service 3 – Mapping Distinct Tree Species
Mallon will be working to deliver Service 2. Service 2 will provide an assessment of the tree vegetation health in a layer of tree species obtained from Service 1. From this assessment, Mallon will aim to output a time series of vegetation health indicators along with a map that illustrates the temporal changes. The information gained from this assessment will help to assess the trees degradation, stability and regeneration.
Speaking on the award of the project, Marion Murphy, Mallon Managing Director, said “We are delighted to be able to use our EO expertise to assist in the delivery of another EO Clinic project. This builds on our successful work in delivering previous EO Clinic projects. The EO Clinic is a fantastic solution that shows how EO data, products and services can be utilised to provide information, insights and benefits to any country and across a wide range of industries”.
