A collaboration with NASA to spur Earth observation as a tool for achieving sustainable-development goals focused in November on the work of Guardián Forestal, a Mexican environmental monitoring nonprofit that has spotlighted illegal deforestation by the country’s avocado industry. The occasion was the International Colloquium on Space and Environmental Justice, an annual event launched last year in Guadalajara to inspire discussion in Mexico on the applications of satellite imagery in activities such as estimating forest carbon stocks to tracking land-use change. This year’s colloquium, the second, was held Nov. 18-19 in Morelia, capital of the state of Michoacán. There, NASA experts met with some 200 Mexican stakeholders representing a variety of disciplines to discuss the use of Earth observation technologies in supporting environmental justice. Organizers say use of the technologies could empower indigenous communities; protect environmental defenders; and better equip judicial and legislative authorities to address environmental crimes... [Log in to read more]