From November 13-14, LEAF and the U.S. Forest Service brought together 38 global and regional experts in forest monitoring to develop practical, realistic approaches to inform country-level forest degradation monitoring efforts. Globally, about two-thirds of the world’s forests are considered degraded, but practical, cost-effective tools for monitoring forest quality remain elusive. By exploring remote sensing tools, modeling, and field-based monitoring approaches, the workshop findings will promote integrating feasible monitoring methods into national and sub-national forest monitoring systems, to detect how much degradation is taking place. Explicitly addressing degradation can reduce associated carbon emissions and protect largely intact forests before they suffer from degradation. Winrock International’s Chief Climate Scientist, Dr. Sandra Brown, explained that the workshop “built consensus and collaboration among peers.” This work builds on country-level degradation assessments in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, and is part of LEAF’s commitment to building institutional technical capacity across the region for monitoring changes in forest carbon stocks and demonstrating innovations in sustainable land management.
Materials from this event include:
Proceedings of the International Workshop on Monitoring Forest Degradation in Southeast Asia
Drivers of degradation and UNFCCC definitions
Remote sensing case study: Use of traditional techniques and methods
Integrating RS and field data: Case study
Forest monitoring uncertainties and degradation monitoring options
Click here to learn more about LEAF's work addressing forest degradation.
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