1 / 17

GEO Community of Practice for Forest Observations

Michael Brady, Canada G ö ran Boberg and Hakan Olsson, Sweden Erkki Tomppo, Finland Martin Herold and Christiane Schmullius, GOFC-GOLD. GEO Community of Practice for Forest Observations. User Interface Committee Meeting September 2006, Ottawa. Objectives.

kevyn
Download Presentation

GEO Community of Practice for Forest Observations

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Michael Brady, Canada Göran Boberg and Hakan Olsson, Sweden Erkki Tomppo, Finland Martin Herold and Christiane Schmullius, GOFC-GOLD GEO Community of Practice for Forest Observations User Interface Committee Meeting September 2006, Ottawa

  2. Objectives • Create a community of practice with broad representation of producers and users of forest data and information • Identify, gather, and seek agreement on user community requirements for forest observations, their present status and gaps to be filled • Cooperate in activities with existing forest observation initiatives where GEOSS can add value (e.g., IGOL, FAO-FRA, etc.) • Promote consensus-building among producers and users about the highest priority forest observation needs • Advise the User Interface Committee, other CoPs and GEO on matters relating to forest observations and related societal benefits, and on cross-cutting issues of interest • Facilitate outreach in support of the above objectives

  3. Justification • Combining remote and in situ observations is under utilised • Lack of co-ordinated long term observation plans • Need to improve joint remote sensing and in situ inventory methods to estimate global forest estimates • Earth observation challenges: • varying user requirements • observation continuity (satellite, in situ) • move from research to operations • harmonization of forest information • data access issues (regional/national data sets, in situ) • capacity building and outreach

  4. Heterogeneity of forest estimates in global land cover maps Forest definitions: IGBP legend : percent tree cover >60% / tree height >2m GLC2000 legend : percent tree cover >15% / tree height >3m Credit: M. Herold / GOFC-GOLD

  5. Forest observations and GEO • Forests are a key terrestrial ecosystem and habitat • GEOSS reference plan: • land cover and forests are important for all areas of societal benefit • terrestrial observation domain least developed • Forests and the environmental conventions: • carbon and water cycle • response to climate change • continued deforestation and forest degradation • biodiversity

  6. Hot spots of deforestation 1980-2000 Source: Lepers, E., E.F. Lambin, A.C. Janetos, R. DeFries, F. Achard, N. Ramankutty and R.J. Scholes (2005). A synthesis of information on rapid land-cover change for the period 1981-2000. BioScience, 55 (2), 115-124

  7. Forest Observations Variety of remote and in situ observations: • Cover • Density (crown closure) • LAI, FPAR • Biophysical processes (NPP, fire) • Vegetation type • Biomass • Species • Disturbance, natural/anthropogenic • Inundation • Regeneration • Stand structure • Basal area/volume • Age class • Tree measurements (age, DBH, ht, etc) • Forest floor and belowground biomass

  8. Membership • To include producers, developers and users of forest observations and observation systems • open access, voluntary, best efforts based • Representatives from GEO member states • Sweden, Canada, Finland … • Participating international organizations • CEOS, UN FAO – FRA, GTOS/GOFC-GOLD, … • Other stakeholders with similar interests • NFI, GSE Forest Monitoring, … • Developing and developed countries represented

  9. Forest Observation Community Membership determined by range of uses for forest observations and information (1) Global Change Science (2) Timber, Fuel and Fiber (3) Watershed Protection (4) Biodiversity and Conservation (5) FCCC and other Environmental Agreements (6) Recreation and Tourism (7) Sustainable Forest Management (8) Forest Perturbations and Protection (fire, insects, disease)

  10. Membership • Focus on linking (within GEO context) existing networks and international organizations, e.g. • FAO • ENFIN • IUFRO • ITTO • CGIAR • GOFC-GOLD Regional Networks

  11. Work to Date • Following existing community of practice guidance materials and experiences • Recruit CoP co-leads, establish work routine • Address forest observations for societal benefits in: • AGRICULTURE: forestry and resources • DISASTERS: loss due to forest fires • CLIMATE: deforestation and carbon cycle • ECOSYSTEMS: services and functioning • BIODIVERISTY: conservation of habitats • CAPACITY BUILDING: local - global communities • … others … • Link to GEO 2006 work plan targets

  12. Establish links to related user survey activities anticipated in the GEO 2006 work plan: Work to Date • AG-06-04: Initiate an international assessment effort on forests and forest changes utilizing ongoing land cover mapping projects (e.g. GLOBCOVER) • EC-06-05: Survey the research community involved in in-situ observations and modeling for new platform and sensor needs, or for suggestions for better use of existing systems (IGBP) • BI-06-02: Conduct a series of workshops and meetings to define the needs and requirements of the biodiversity information users sector (DIVERSITAS, GBIF, UNESCO, GTOS, GEO Members)

  13. Work to Date • Preliminary identification of user needs: • consistency and continuity of observations • Accessible and low/no cost • user involvement: from observations to applications • Adapting to emerging approaches and technologies • integrating in-situ and local to global scale information • Initial focus of FCoP: • integrating in-situ and space based forest observations • Involvement in planning process for upcoming global forest assessment (FRA 2010)

  14. Identify and contact key forest organizations for involvement: Work to Date • FAO Forestry Program, Forest Resource Assessment • National Forest Inventory (ENFIN, NAFC)

  15. Planned Activities • September 2006: Guidance at UIC meeting • Membership strategy • Coordination with UIC and GEOSEC • Communications with GEO members (letter, website) • October 2006: Forest CoP meeting • Meet with key forest organizations • Engage in selected forest observation activity (FRA 2010) • Expand FCoP organizational structure and procedures • November 2006: Forest CoP introduction at GEO Plenary • User Interface Committee side event

  16. Needs from UIC • Point of contact among co-chairs • Communications and reporting • Advice and guidance • Guidelines on membership • Limitations • Communications support • GEO protocols • UIC, GEOSEC, plenary, website • Feedback, lessons learned • Other CoPs

  17. Thank you - Questions? Point of contact: Michael Brady, Canadian Forest Service (mbrady@nrcan.gc.ca)

More Related