Coimbra, Portugal, April 1, 2026 (Lusa) – The US-based company EOS Data Analytics (EOSDA), is set to monitor forests and prevent wildfires using satellite data across 19 municipalities in the Coimbra region, as part of a year-long pilot project.
The company said that the Coimbra region saw more than 64,000 hectares burnt in 2025 and that, to prevent a recurrence, EOSDA, in partnership with the Portuguese firm EOSSAT, signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop an innovative satellite-based solution for forest monitoring and fire prevention.
Working alongside the Coimbra Region Intermunicipal Community (CIM), the project will cover an area of 4,336 square kilometres, identifying high-risk fire zones, supporting prevention efforts, assessing post-fire losses and planning forest recovery.
The project, which launched in March, was funded by the ESA’s InCubed programme, an initiative managed by the ESA Φ-lab (Phi-lab) that supports commercial applications derived from Earth observation data.
Daniele Romagnoli, the head of InCubed at ESA, said that the Coimbra project served as a prime example of how satellite technology could assist local organisations in assessing risks and impacts while guiding recovery planning.
According to her, the technical solution combined data from the EOS SAT-1 satellite, which featured a three-metre resolution, with automated processing and expert validation.
Municipalities would receive quarterly maps detailing changes in forest cover, burnt areas, and recovery progress, she said, adding that these updates were to be delivered via the Coimbra Region Intermunicipal Community’s Emergency Management and Decision Support System (SADGE) platform.
Furthermore, Oleksii Shchehliuk, the Director-General of EOSDA, said that the initiative was being implemented to strengthen fire resilience in the Coimbra region, which was serving as a pilot area, considering that the project had strong potential for expansion.
According to the company, the monitoring system could achieve up to 90% accuracy in identifying fire-risk areas, resulting in a 30% reduction in fires.
Additionally, greater monitoring accuracy could help prevent up to 25,000 hectares of forest per year in the Coimbra region alone, allowing teams to act more effectively on the ground, he concluded.
MYME/MYAL // ADB.
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