The ISPRS SC Webinar Series
ISPRS WG III/4 : April 2026
This webinar is organised by the ISPRS WG III/4 with the technical support of the ISPRS Student Consortium.
Program Details:
Date: 15 April, 2026
Time: 13:00-15:00 GMT
Title: Land Use and Land Cover Change Detection
Speakers: Dr. Claudia ALMEIDA & Dr. Carlos SOUZA
Speaker 1: Claudia Almeida
Title: Mapping and Modeling Land Use and Land Cover Change: Examples of Databases, Methods and Trends
Abstract: This discussion provides an overview of presently available worldwide databases of land use and land cover monitoring, besides tracking recent achievements and revealing the main ongoing trends in land use and land cover mapping and change detection, in addition to unveiling the latest tendencies in land use and land cover change simulation and forecasts generation by means of spatially explicit dynamic models. A brief review of the evolution of the employed methods for these purposes and of the theoretical foundations underlying legends of classification will also be approached, focusing on providing the audience with a synopsis of the addressed topics.
Short Bio: Dr. Claudia Maria de Almeida graduated in Architecture and Town Planning from the University of Sao Paulo - USP (1989), owns a Masters Degree in Infrastructure Planning from the Centre for Infrastructure Planning, Universität Stuttgart, Germany (1995), accomplished part of her PhD in Remote Sensing at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis - University College London, England, UK (2002) as an affiliate researcher and achieved a PhD in Remote Sensing from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research - INPE (2003). She is currently a Senior Researcher at INPE, where she coordinates the CITIES Laboratory. She was a Lecturer at the International Space University (ISU) in 2023. She is a permanent professor of the Graduate Program in Remote Sensing at INPE and served as INPE´s Coordinator of the Brazilian Network for Advanced Computer Vision of the Federal Ministry for Science, Technology and Innovation, targeted to technological research innovation. She is at present an Associate Editor of the ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.
Speaker 2: Carlos Souza
Title: Land Cover and Water Dynamics: Applications on Conservation
Abstract: This talk explores how climate change and land-use dynamics impact the Amazon basin. Using recent remote sensing data, we show that deforestation and extreme drought intensify negative effects on biodiversity, food security, human well-being, and carbon emissions. A key focus is the extreme vulnerability of Amazonian wetland and surface water ecosystems. Recent multi-source satellite mapping reveals large surface water losses with climate extremes, agriculture, and infrastructure as key drivers. There is therefore urgent need to integrate monitoring and actionable policies for conservation and management as mitigation strategies and, in areas undergoing worst-case impacts, for adaptation.
Short Bio: Carlos Souza Jr. holds a bachelor's degree in geology from Pará State Federal University, Brazil, an M.Sc. in soil science from Penn State University, US, and a Ph.D. in geography from the University of California Santa Barbara, US. He is currently an associate researcher at Imazon, focusing on remote sensing for mapping and monitoring forests, forest degradation, land use and land cover change, surface water monitoring, and spatial modeling. Dr. Souza Jr. has published 200 journal articles, conference papers, and book chapters. Dr. Souza Jr. has been honored with the Skoll Award and is a Mulago Foundation Fellow.
