Bangladesh – National Forest Inventory Field Training and Design Finalization
Dhaka, Gazipur, Cox’s Bazaar, and Mongla / February-April 2016
In support of Bangladesh's efforts to develop a national forest inventory (NFI), the SilvaCarbon-Bangladesh program worked with the Bangladesh Forest Department to conduct a hands-on training on field inventory quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC). The training took place in February and March in three different forest ecosystems in Bangladesh – the Sal forest (in Gazipur District), the hill forest (Cox’s Bazaar District), and the Sundarbans mangrove forest (Mongla District). Two US Forest Service (USFS) experts led classroom- and field-based training sessions with 14 Bangladeshi foresters on roles, responsibilities, and procedures for supervising and quality-checking NFI crews. Training participants learned about and practiced field inventory techniques, worked with the OpenForis data collection and analysis tool, and addressed data needs and challenges within different forest types. Participants were tested in the field and demonstrated their knowledge via a written certification test at the close of the training. The training also allowed USFS experts and Bangladeshi partners to further develop and refine field procedures for the NFI data collection process anticipated to take place later this year. SilvaCarbon is planning to provide a refresher training to the participants before field work begins.
In April, USFS continued its work with the Bangladesh Forest Department and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to produce a final NFI design for the country. The design was presented at an NFI stakeholder workshop in Dhaka on April 13. Contact: Elise deRiel, elisederiel@fs.fed.us.
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Workshop participants learn about field inventory procedures in Bangladesh’s Sal forest.
Photo credit: Rukshana Sultana, SilvaCarbon-Bangladesh Country Coordinator.
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Costa Rica – US Study Tour on Land Use and Land Cover Monitoring
Salt Lake City, Utah / February 29 - March 4, 2016
Randy Hamilton, Costa Rica Climate Fellow, is supporting the design of a national land use and land cover monitoring system for Costa Rica that will satisfy REDD+ and other national and international reporting requirements. As part of this support, he and the USFS Office of International Programs organized a study tour for 13 Costa Rican decision makers and senior technical staff to the USFS Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC) and USFS Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program facilities in Utah. The study tour involved 11 government and academic institutions and was financed through the US Department of State.
The five-day event combined technical presentations on state-of-the-art monitoring approaches with group activities for organizational, team, and project development. Key outcomes of the event included 1) a preliminary concept for Costa Rica’s monitoring system, 2) increased understanding of monitoring system design concepts, 3) a list of next steps for the project team, and 4) strengthened relationships and trust among the institutions involved. A follow-up workshop will be held in Costa Rica to help the country clearly define its monitoring needs and identify the information that must be measured to satisfy those needs. Contact: Randy Hamilton, rhamilton.usfs@gmail.com.
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Costa Rican study tour participants with US counterparts.
Photo credit: Randy Hamilton, Costa Rica Climate Fellow.
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South and Southeast Asia
Webinars on Forest Cover Change Detection Using Google Earth Engine
Online / March-April 2016
RSAC conducted two webinars as follow-up support to a previous SilvaCarbon training on forest cover change detection. The initial in-person training was held in Bangkok in November 2015 and involved participants from government agencies in Nepal, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Thailand. The subsequent webinars were designed in consultation with training participants to address questions they identified during and after the training. The first webinar focused on using a hybrid approach for improved forest classification (natural/plantation forests), and the second focused on working with data from the Sentinel 1 and 2 satellite missions using Google Earth Engine. The second webinar was extended to SERVIR-Mekong University Network and to the Philippines due to expressed interest. Contact: Marija Kono, m.kono.silvacarbon@gmail.com.
SERVIR-Mekong Workshop on Typology for Regional Land Cover Monitoring System
Bangkok, Thailand / March 14-16, 2016
SERVIR-Mekong organized the first workshop for stakeholders in the Mekong region to discuss and build consensus on a consistent regional land cover typology to be used in the Regional Land Cover Monitoring System currently under development. Workshop participants identified key objectives and priority classes (based on biophysical parameters), and established working groups to support the development of the system. Approximately 50 people participated, including representatives from government agencies, academia, civil society, and regional and international donor institutions. The workshop was organized by SERVIR-Mekong in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), RSAC, and SilvaCarbon, with technical inputs and guidance from RSAC. Contact: Marija Kono, m.kono.silvacarbon@gmail.com.
Latin America
Mangrove Carbon Monitoring Workshop
Merida and Celestun, Yucatan, Mexico / February 28 - March 4, 2016
SilvaCarbon sponsored seven representatives from Central and South America to participate in a four-day workshop in Mexico on carbon measurement in mangrove ecosystems co-organized by the USFS Mexico Program and Fondo Mexicano. Contact: Rachel Sheridan, rachelsheridan@fs.fed.us.
US Study Tour on Forest Inventory
Ogden, Utah / February 28 - March 5, 2016
Three forest inventory specialists from Honduras and one inventory specialist from El Salvador participated in a weeklong study tour at FIA’s Interior West headquarters in Utah. Ten Peruvian specialists also attended the tour. Participants learned about FIA’s inventory process in the US and explored opportunities to apply methodologies and processes in their home countries’ forest inventory programs. Contact: Rachel Sheridan, rachelsheridan@fs.fed.us.
Peru – Remote Sensing Workshop for Resource Assessment and Land Cover Mapping
Lima, Peru / March 7-9, 2016
USGS experts led a three-day workshop on the use of radar for resource assessment and land cover mapping for Peru’s Ministry of Environment (MINAM). The workshop took place in MINAM’s Lima facility and engaged 14 participants from various departments within MINAM. The workshop involved a combination of PowerPoint presentations and hands-on exercises based on ENVI image processing software. Most of the spaceborne optical and radar imagery used in the workshop was from several locations in Peru. Contact: Sylvia Wilson, snwilson@usgs.gov.
Peru – Technical Exchange with University of Maryland
Lima, Peru / March 15-17, 2016
SilvaCarbon partners Matt Hansen and Alexander Krylov from the University of Maryland (UMD) Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) program traveled to Peru for a two-day capacity transfer meeting with Peru’s Ministry of Environment (MINAM). MINAM and UMD have worked together since 2013 and continue to collaborate on mapping forest and land cover for GHG reporting purposes. Contact: Sylvia Wilson, snwilson@usgs.gov.
Guatemala – FAO Data Analysis Workshop
Guatemala City, Guatemala / April 11-15, 2016
Two USFS/SilvaCarbon experts, Andy Lister and Craig Wayson, participated in a workshop in Guatemala on forest inventory data analysis hosted by FAO. Both experts gave presentations and facilitated technical sessions during the event. Contact: Craig Wayson, cwayson.silvacarbon@gmail.com.
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South and Southeast Asia
Regional Workshop on REDD+ Monitoring and MRV
Bangkok, Thailand / April 18-22, 2016
The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), GOFC-GOLD program, Wageningen University, GFOI, UN-REDD/FAO, and SilvaCarbon will hold the first in series of four regional workshops aimed at building national capacities in REDD+ Monitoring and MRV through a train-the-trainer approach. The initial workshop will focus on Asia, and subsequent workshops will take place in Latin America and Africa. Contact: Sylvia Wilson, snwilson@usgs.gov.
Regional Workshop on Mangrove Mapping and Monitoring
Vietnam / Date TBD
SERVIR–Mekong and SilvaCarbon are planning a workshop for the Mekong region to review existing methods and approaches for mapping and monitoring mangroves and identify current capacity gaps related to the generation of improved mangrove data. The workshop will be organized under the umbrella of the AFOLU Working Group in collaboration with the Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation and Mitigation Program (SWAMP), Low Emissions Asian Development (LEAD) program, and other regional partners. Contact: Marija Kono, mkono.silvacarbon@gmail.com.
Bangladesh – Forest Inventory Study Tour to Bhutan
Bhutan / May 2016
A senior delegation from the Bangladesh Forest Department will visit Bhutan to learn about that country’s experience designing and implementing its first nation-wide forest inventory. Contact: Elise deRiel, elisederiel@fs.fed.us.
Bangladesh – NFI Refresher Training on QA/QC
Bangladesh / October 2016
In anticipation of the start of field work for Bangladesh’s NFI later this year, USFS experts will deliver a refresher training to the participants of a previous SilvaCarbon-supported training on QA/QC. The training will be conducted in partnership with FAO and the Bangladesh Forest Department. Contact: Elise deRiel, elisederiel@fs.fed.us.
Latin America
Regional Workshop on Defining Forest Degradation
Honduras / June 27-30, 2016
The SilvaCarbon-Central America program will help facilitate two workshops in Latin America on forest degradation. The first will convene participants from around the region, including representatives from regional assistance programs (i.e., USAID-RCCP, GIZ, Mexico-Norway, SilvaCarbon), to review and refine the definition of forest degradation in the context of REDD+ and build consensus on topics related to the quantification of degradation. Contact: Rachel Sheridan, rachelsheridan@fs.fed.us.
Regional Workshop on Methods for Monitoring Forest Degradation
Mexico / August 2016
The second of two upcoming regional workshops on forest degradation will take place in Mexico and will focus on assisting countries to develop the technical capacity to implement degradation monitoring systems that can be part of their broader REDD+ measuring, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems. Participants will examine available methods and tools for identifying and quantifying degradation and engage in hands-on training exercises. Contact: Rachel Sheridan, rachelsheridan@fs.fed.us.
Central Africa
Cameroon – National Forest Monitoring System Design Support
Yaoundé, Cameroon / Dates TBD
SilvaCarbon continues to collaborate with the Cameroonian REDD+ Steering Committee to support the design of a national forest monitoring system for Cameroon. Upcoming work will focus on finalizing land-use/land-cover classes, building capacity in data analysis and QA/QC, and supporting the development of a national reference level for REDD+ activities. Contact: Alex Neidermeier, anneidermeier@fs.fed.us.
Republic of Congo – National Forest Inventory Wetland Integration
Brazzaville, Republic of Congo / Dates TBD
A SilvaCarbon activity is tentatively planned for June/July to advance progress on incorporating Congo’s wetlands into its NFI. A wetlands field guide is being developed and validated with support from CNIAF, the inventory agency of Congo. Contact: Alex Neidermeier, anneidermeier@fs.fed.us.
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Humid Tropical Forest Disturbance Alerts Using Landsat Data
A number of SilvaCarbon partners co-authored a publication in Environmental Research Letters which presents results from a Landsat-based humid tropical forest disturbance alert implemented for Peru, the Republic of Congo, and Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Tropical Wetland Ecosystem Services and Impacts of Global Change
The journal Wetlands Ecology and Management published a special issue focusing on research from the Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation and Mitigation Program (SWAMP), a SilvaCarbon partner initiative co-led by USFS, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), and Oregon State University with support from USAID.
A Comparison of Mangrove Canopy Height Using Multiple Independent Measurements from Land, Air, and Space
A publication in Remote Sensing coauthored by NASA and SWAMP scientists assesses the use of remote sensing data to measure mangrove canopy height.
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About SilvaCarbon
SilvaCarbon is a multi-agency technical cooperation program of the US Government to develop capacity worldwide in measuring, monitoring, and reporting forest and terrestrial carbon. The following USG agencies contribute to SilvaCarbon: the US Agency for International Development (USAID), US Department of State, US Forest Service (USFS), US Geological Survey (USGS), US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Smithsonian Institution. Program funding is provided by the USAID Sustainable Landscapes Program, the US Department of State Office of Global Change, and USAID Missions in participating countries. Program implementation is led by USFS, USGS, US EPA, and NASA.
SilvaCarbon is the US contribution to the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI), a body of the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO). SilvaCarbon co-leads the GFOI capacity-building component together with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
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