The first objective of conducting a user requirements and market assessment was carried out during the first months of the project and a deliverable with compiled information was submitted in time. During this time the prototyping sites and demonstration sites were negotiated and set in consultation with the Users. A questionnaire with technical system requirements for the Service Platform was sent to the Users and the major challenges to access funding sources for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) policy on reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) were also identified. The fragmented nature of the funding sources and the lack of dedicated budgets for the Earth Observation (EO) applications for Forest Monitoring within these programs were identified as the major obstacles for a sustainable market for European EO industry. Monitoring the evolution of the REDD+ policy and Zero Deforestation (ZD) programmes will be followed throughout the project lifetime. The second objective relates to the development of improved algorithms and models for the mapping of forest disturbances, above-ground biomass and land use land cover. For both, the optical and radar data domain, automated processing chains that are necessary to harmonise multi-temporal data stacks and prepare data for the subsequent analyses were developed. The integration of two different sensors, namely Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2, into the time series data stack was a main task, but first results for forest cover mapping were generated as well. Besides the data harmonisation of Sentinel-1 SAR data, a new approach to detect forest disturbances was investigated and will be further developed towards an implementation in an operational forest disturbance monitoring system. Another main objective of EOMonDis is to disseminate the results of the project to a wide audience. A project website was built and does contain a specific section for news updates. Additionally, a flyer and printout were designed, that is both downloadable from the website and can be given to Users and donors at conferences or meetings. The project team has contributed to eight conferences during the first reporting period and submitted four full papers for publication, of which three are conference proceedings. The other two objectives, which are assessing the utility of the innovative methods and develop a Business Model, will be addressed at a later stage during project lifetime.