Introduzione o prefazione

- This paper is an initial investigation of the possibility that remote sensing data be regarded as global public goods. Remote sensing data for civil applications may be considered as Moreover products since the marginal cost from an additional use is close to zero. Indeed, remote sensing data are a form of scientific knowledge and as such have an important public good trait. Furthermore, this is also a consequence of the general opinion that regards environmental resources as global public goods and natural disasters as international public bads. To show that remote sensing data have the potential to be considered global public goods has significant implications. Indeed, global public goods provide a rationale for international collective action, which is the only way to produce and share them, given that a global governmental authority does not exist. The paper will recall examples of international initiatives and programs that are based on data sharing principles implying full and open exchange of data and implicitly recognizing that remote sensing data are global public goods.JEL H4