To explore the societal and economic benefits of Earth Observation (EO) technologies and the current state of remote sensing technology for understanding the Earth's surface properties, patterns, processes, ecosystems, and environments, and to provide potential solutions to enhance the understanding of environmental change and sustainable development, over 200 scientists, professors, technical developers, and students gathered in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China, from July 4–6, 2016, to participate in the Fourth International Workshop on Earth Observation and Remote Sensing Applications (EORSA 2016). Initiated in 2008 as a biannual conference event, this is the fourth conference in the EORSA series. With purview of EORSA, the serial conferences intend to provide a platform for academic exchange and related services for researchers from within- and outside-China in the development of EO and other geospatial technologies, and the application of these technologies in the areas of global change, ecosystems, environments, and resources at various scales, human-environment interactions, and sustainable development.