crucial in regions which are exposed in various risks (e.g., climate change, droughts, floods, earthquakes, and landslides) and where ground data are scarce [2; 3; 4; 5], such as the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, and North Africa (EMMENA) region [6]. We define EMMENA as the geographical region which includes the following countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen (Figure 1). The EMMENA region hosts approximately 558 million people, covers an area of 12,046,012 km\({}^{2}\), and is one of the most diverse regions in the world in economic terms, with per capita annual gross domestic products (GDP) ranging from USD 533 in Yemen to USD 66838 in Qatar [7]. The region has a rich history and cultural heritage but has also been exposed to various risks over the decades [8]. The EMMENA region has been suffering from geopolitical tensions, political instability, and conflicts [8]. Furthermore, population growth and expanding urbanization in the EMMENA region have increased the pressure on ecosystems and on available resources [9; 10; 11; 12]. In addition, this region has been characterized as a climate change hot spot, leading to increasing temperatures, extended droughts, and a decline in rainfall [13; 14]. The agricultural sector, of which 70 percent is rainfed, is highly exposed to changing climatic conditions [14]. This is of critical importance as the agriculture sector contributes significantly to the national economies of many EMMENA countries. Additionally, climate change will have negative impacts on many other aspects including air quality, human health, land ecosystems, marine ecosystems, freshwater resources, and energy demand [15; 16]. Finally, many countries of the EMMENA region are situated on complex topography and on tectonically active areas, thus are prone to hazards related to landslides and earthquakes [17]. EO plays a crucial role in understanding processes on our planet, enabling us to advance our monitoring capabilities over various domains of interest [18]. The information  
Figure 1: Countries of the EMMENA region. generated from EO enables researchers and decisionmakers to formulate and apply effective policies for environmental protection and sustainable management of natural resources. The amount of freely accessible EO data has been increasing over the years, mainly due to technological advancements and the implementation of open data policies. For example, the yearly volume of open and freely available satellite data increased from 0.25 PB in 2013 (MODIS and Landsat missions) to 4.25 PB in 2019 (MODIS, Landsat, and Sentinel missions) [19]. These data provide the opportunity to expand our knowledge in many thematic areas including atmosphere, water, agriculture, land, disaster risk (reduction), cultural heritage, energy, and marine safety and security. However, due to the expanding amount of data, there is a need for novel solutions to properly store, process, disseminate, and analyze these big Earth data sets [18]. The ongoing development of big Earth data techniques and the increasing availability of satellite EO data provide opportunities to better monitor the aforementioned thematic areas [20; 21]. As the EMMENA region is a fairly new segment for EO activities, there are many opportunities to expand in EO research [6]. However, it is crucial to document first the current EO applications per thematic area and to identify the existing knowledge gaps. Currently, review papers on EO are focusing on specific thematic areas [22; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29]. To the best of our knowledge, there are no review papers available on the full range of EO applications. Furthermore, review studies on EO in the EMMENA region are limited. The aim of this scoping review is to fill this gap by focusing on the wide range of EO applications in the EMMENA region.