RHOMEO

Methodologies to monitor the Mediterranean basin of the Rhône River

Project summary

The RhoMeO project (Rhone Mediterranean Observatory), led by the Rhone Basin Water Authority, joins the efforts of managers and researchers to develop methodologies for the construction of an observatory to monitor the changing conditions of wetlands in the Mediterranean basin of the Rhône River.

The goal of the work of the ETC-UMA, in collaboration with Tour du Valat (TdV) is to assess the relevance of using new generation high-resolution (HR) satellite images as tools and to develop methods that can support detecting changes in wetlands at basin scale.

Our role

ETC-UMA developed 3 indicators based on remote sensing (SRS) and GIS to be used for wetland monitoring in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA region), in southeastern France, for different dates between 1970 to 2012. Each indicator covers a particular aspect of these natural areas since the complexity of their operation requires different tools to assess their state at a given moment:

Indicator 1: the total surface of wetlands at a given date.
Indicator 2: the conversion of natural and semi-natural wetlands surface, between two dates, into either agriculture or urban areas.
Indicator 3: the degree of flooding of wetlands over a year cycle.

Main outputs

Final Report

Remote Sensing applications for Mediterranean Wetlands monitoring

ETC-UMA contribution to the RhoMeo programme

Scientific Publication

Development of an Indicator to Monitor Mediterranean Wetlands

Sánchez-Espinosa, A; Abdul-Malak, D; Guelmami, A; Perennou, C (2015)

More about it

Dania Abdul Malak

Wetland policy related inquiries

daniaabdulmalak@uma.es

Dania Abdul Malak is a senior environmental researcher and Director of the European Topic Centre at the University of Malaga (ETC-UMA). She has over 15 years’ experience in environmental assessment and management...

Antonio Sánchez

Data related inquiries

a_sanchez@uma.es

Antonio Sánchez has developed his career focused on Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing tools, especially in the management and processing of data to calculate indicators and generate illustrative maps of environmental problems of all kind...

Tour du Valat

RESTORE4Cs 1st Policy Brief: How can coastal wetlands help achieve EU climate goals?

The first RESTORE4Cs Policy Brief of RESTORE4Cs, “How can coastal wetlands help achieve EU climate goals?“, highlights the importance of European coastal wetlands for reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions. The key messages of the first RESTORE4Cs Policy Brief include: Coastal wetlands are important natural carbon stores, ...

Mapping the Impact of Blue Tourism in the Mediterranean

The IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation with the support of ETC-UMA in the framework of the Blue Tourism Initiative, has released a comprehensive report entitled "Mapping the Impact of Blue Tourism in the Mediterranean: Vulnerability Assessment of Coastal and Marine ...

StrategyMedFor Presented at Annual Medforval Meeting 2024

StrategyMedFor was prominently featured at the Annual Medforval Meeting 2024, held from June 5-7 in Fontecchio, Italy. The event brought together 25 practitioners from national parks and natural reserves across 9 Mediterranean countries, providing a valuable platform for StrategyMedFor to ...

Celebrating leadership in environmental management: an interview with Dania Abdul Malak

From designing integrated ecosystem assessments in Europe and the Mediterranean to transforming outcomes into evidence-based recommendations for regional stakeholders, the European Topic Centre on Spatial Analysis and Synthesis (ETC-UMA) stands as a flagship for territorial cooperation. At the forefront of ...

Save the date! Unlocking solutions for coastal conservation in Europe

How can coastal wetlands respond to major European Union objectives such as climate neutrality, biodiversity protection, and pollution reduction? What key role do coastal wetlands play in achieving EU commitments for climate mitigation and biodiversity conservation? The European Topic Centre ...