Davide Andreatta, PhD student at the Forest Ecology Research Unit, is the joint recipient of the 2023 Study Award issued by the Georgofili Academy and funded by BCC-Veneta. The award, titled "Agro-silvo-pastoral Procedures and Technologies Supporting the Sustainability of Agricultural and Forestry Systems ," was personally collected by Andreatta on Friday, September 27, 2024.

He received the prestigious recognition for his work titled "Estimating grassland vegetation cover with remote sensing: A comparison between Landsat-8, Sentinel-2, and PlanetScope imagery," conducted during his PhD at the Fondazione Mach and the University of Padua.

The study assessed the potential of satellite images provided by three different satellite constellations with varying spatial, temporal, and radiometric resolution to estimate grassland vegetation cover. This work makes a significant contribution to the concrete monitoring of degradation or revegetation processes in grasslands, both in the Alps and beyond. It also offers insights supporting long-term trend analysis driven by changes in management practices and climate, as well as near-real-time analysis of erosion and revegetation processes, particularly in the context of increasing extreme weather events, such as the Vaia storm.

The award ceremony took place at the headquarters of BCC Veneta, in the presence of the President of the Georgofili Academy, the sponsoring institution, and many academics, and included a presentation of the awarded work.