Research

The Paris Agreement aims to limit global warming to 1.5ºC, compared to preindustrial levels. The “remaining carbon budget” from 2020 onward has been estimated at 440 gigatons of CO2 (GtCO2) (Matthews et al. 2021). However, the CO2 potential emissions contained in present estimates of global fossil fuel reserves represent a staggering 2,900 GtCO2, 6.5 times the carbon budget. In practice, and based on the opportunity costs of different fossil fuel reserves, about 89%, 59%, and 58% of existing coal, gas, and oil reserves, respectively, would need to remain under the soil to limit global warming to 1.5°C (Welsby et al. 2021).

Oil and gas reserves overlap with 11% of the world’s rainforests and fossil fuel operations have profound and enduring impacts on biodiversity and can have severe impacts on health and human rights. However, there is little factual information to help determine and minimize the impacts that these activities may have on the environment, on the wildlife and on the health of people living in the vicinities of oil extraction sites.

The mobile technology revolution, with low-cost and user-friendly devices and mobile apps have created a wide range of possibilities for citizen science as Near Real-Time Monitoring systems (Finer et al 2018). In the same vein, recent advances in satellite-based remote sensing, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones, big data processing and technologies like Web 2.0 and online map servers, have allowed, as the prices decrease and the technology becomes easier to use, forest monitoring with high spatial, temporal and thematic detail and the rapid increase of their use in environmental applications (Hansen et al 2019). EXIT evaluates the use of remote sensors (satellite borne -either multispectral or radar satellite images- or UAVs) for oil spill detection and, their coupling with Citizen Science to create an alert system for quick response to onshore oil spills in the global tropical rainforests and to inform ongoing international court cases that seek remedy and redress of environmental harm from oil extraction activities.