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SilvaCarbon Newsletter: June 2017  
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RECENT ACTIVITIES



Central Africa 


Republic of Congo (ROC) – Incorporation of Mangroves in the National Forest Inventory

ROC / April 28-May 11, 2017

As part of its ongoing support for ROC to include the country’s mangrove forests in the national forest inventory, SilvaCarbon conducted a second phase of technical assistance for ROC focused on (1) adapting wetland inventory methodologies to mangrove forests, and (2) validating the complete methodology, with the supervision of USFS expert Matt Warren. Contact: Valery-Olivier Sene, olivier.sene@fs-ip.us. 


Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – Incorporation of Wetland Forests in the National Forest Inventory 

DRC / May-June 2017

Following similar work in ROC, SilvaCarbon is assisting DRC to include its vast, carbon-rich wetlands in the national forest inventory. Expert consultations will facilitate the development of an adapted national forest inventory methodology for wetland forest zones, and the integration of the results into the national methodology currently being finalized. In June/July, a USFS wetland expert will work with the Department of Forest Inventory and Zoning (DIAF) to train national forest inventory field teams on forest inventory methodologies and techniques in wetland forests. Contact: Olivia Freeman, olivia.freeman@fs-ip.us.  
 
 
 


Latin America and the Caribbean 

 

Dominican Republic – Quantifying Carbon Emissions from Wildfires

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic / April 25-27, 2017

The environmental ministry in the Dominican Republic is working with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to establish a system to track fires in the country using field and satellite data, and requested assistance in taking that information and converting it to emissions. In April, USFS detailer Grant Domke and SilvaCarbon technical advisor Craig Wayson worked with a technical team in the Dominican Republic to calculate the emissions from fires from 1990 to 2015 using the available data. Contact: Craig Wayson, cwayson.silvacarbon@gmail.com.  


Costa Rica – Formalizing the National Monitoring System 

San Jose, Costa Rica / May 10, 2017     

FAO hired a lawyer to draft a decree to legally recognize and formalize Costa Rica’s Land Use, Land Cover, and Ecosystems Monitoring System (SIMOCUTE), which the Costa Rica Climate Fellow, Randy Hamilton, has supported for approximately two years. The draft was presented to stakeholders for feedback during a workshop organized by FAO and the Climate Fellow, and financed by FAO. Contact: Randy Hamilton, rhamilton.usfs@gmail.com. 
 

El Salvador – National Forest Inventory Support

San Salvador, El Salvador / May 22-24, 2017

SilvaCarbon provided technical support to El Salvador as it begins to design its national forest inventory. In May, USFS detailers Andy Lister and Karen Schleeweis travelled to San Salvador to facilitate two days of working meetings focused on inventory design and troubleshooting. Contact: Rachel Sheridan, rachelsheridan@fs.fed.us. 


Regional – GFOI Workshop on Preparing National GHG Inventories for the LULUCF Sector 

Guadalajara, Mexico / June 5-9, 2017

A regional workshop organized by GFOI provided a space for participants from across Latin America to share their experiences with the different processes involved in building national GHG inventories for the land use, land use change, and forestry (LULUCF) sector. The workshop covered national forest inventory database management and estimation processes for carbon pools and GHG emissions, and examined preliminary results of mitigation scenarios. Contact: Sylvia Wilson, snwilson@usgs.gov.
 
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South and Southeast Asia


Vietnam – Training on Land Use/Land Cover Mapping 

Hanoi, Vietnam / April 13-21, 2017


In response to the expressed needs of Vietnam’s National Remote Sensing Department (NRSD), SilvaCarbon conducted a training in April to further develop the country’s national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory for the agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) sectors. Specifically, the activity trained NRSD staff to (1) optimize remote sensing spectral band combinations to enable proper interpretation and classification of different land covers, and (2) develop land use and land change maps in accordance with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidance. The training was proposed by NRSD to facilitate the implementation of a joint project between NRSD and the Department of Meteorology, Hydrology, and Climate Change (DMHCC) titled “National GHG inventory of 2016 in LULUCF sector in support of the development of the national communication and Vietnam’s contribution to UNFCCC.” Contacts: Vo Viet Cuong, cuong.silvacarbon@gmail.com; Sarah Banks, scbanks@fs.fed.us; Chelsea Cook, cjcook@usgs.gov.


Nepal – Development of Forest Cover Change Maps

Kathmandu, Nepal / April 24-28, 2017

SilvaCarbon is assisting Nepal to build its capacity to independently produce annual forest cover change maps, and improve the ability of the Department of Forest Research and Survey (DFRS) to meet its mandate for producing data required by multiple stakeholders. In April, DFRS hosted trainers from the University of Maryland (UMD) and colleagues from the SERVIR hubs in the Mekong and Hindu Kush-Himalayan regions for the first in a series of trainings on implementing the Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) system, the forest cover change mapping system developed by UMD. The training introduced all the steps for implementing the GLAD system, with particular emphasis on sample-based analysis. Representatives from the Bangladesh Forest Department joined the training to share their experiences implementing the GLAD system. Links with future regional mapping products were also discussed with SERVIR regional hubs. Contacts: Sylvia Wilson, snwilson@usgs.gov; Marija Kono, mkono.silvacarbon@gmail.com.  


Vietnam – Time-Series Images for Forest Change Detection and Mapping

College Park, MD / May 8-26, 2017

Vietnam’s Forest inventory and Planning Institute (FIPI) is currently seeking a robust method for producing forest cover and forest cover change maps from time-series, medium-resolution satellite imagery, such as Landsat or Sentinel-2, to generate activity data for REDD+ MRV. FIPI’s long-term objective is to master the UMD GLAD mapping methodology in order to produce and integrate mapping products into the REDD+ MRV system. To advance that objective, in May SilvaCarbon supported technical assistance from UMD focused on integrating forest data into GHG inventory mapping efforts. The training was designed to produce national forest cover maps and forest cover change maps for 2000-2015, as well as increase FIPI’s understanding of methods for improving the maps. Topics covered included sample-based accuracy assessment; image pre-processing and forest cover classification methods; UMD's time-series data visualization and validation system; and UMD’s data center, to inform the development of FIPI’s own data center. Contacts: Vo Viet Cuong, cuong.silvacarbon@gmail.com; Sarah Banks, scbanks@fs.fed.us. 
 
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Global


International Seminar on Climate Change and Natural Resource Management

Washingon, DC and California / May 1-20, 2017


The USFS Office of International Programs, in partnership with the University of California, Davis, held its annual International Seminar on Climate Change and Natural Resource Management (CCNRM) in May, with participation from a number of SilvaCarbon stakeholders. The seminar is an intensive three-week program of classroom and field study for climate change professionals from around the world, taking place in DC and different locations in California. This year’s participant cohort included 28 individuals representing 23 countries, including 5 SilvaCarbon countries. The SilvaCarbon-Bangladesh Country Coordinator, Ashraful Haque, was among the participants. SilvaCarbon representatives from USAID, the US Department of State, and USFS led seminar sessions focused on US Government efforts to address climate change internationally, including the SilvaCarbon program. More information and resources from the seminar are available on the CCNRM website, and a collection of seminar photos can be found here. Contact: Moses Jackson, mosesmjackson@fs.fed.us.

“The seminar was eye-opening for me, not just because it gave me an in-depth understanding of the most important contemporary climate change issues in my field, but also because it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to exchange knowledge with my counterparts from across the globe and build our professional network. One of my biggest takeaways was learning about cutting-edge tools used by other countries to create carbon baselines from forest inventory datasets. As a part of my post-seminar action plan, I plan to pilot such a tool in Bangladesh in the next 6-9 months. This will contribute to my SilvaCarbon work, and introduce a potential new technique to enhance forest/carbon monitoring in my country.” 
– Ashraful Haque, SilvaCarbon-Bangladesh Coordinator and 2017 CCNRM seminar participant.  
 


New Online Training Materials: Remote Sensing for Forest Cover Change Detection

A new online training course on Remote Sensing for Forest Cover Change Detection is now available on the SERVIR platform. The course incorporates freely available, open-source software (QGIS and Google Earth Engine), and materials developed by SilvaCarbon in partnership with the USFS International Programs office and the USFS Geospatial Technology and Applications Center (GTAC), USAID, Boston University’s Boston Education in Earth Observation Data Analysis (BEEODA) initiative, NASA, and the Google Earth Engine Team. The materials are based on a training organized by SilvaCarbon, SERVIR-Mekong, the European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC), and FAO in November 2015. Two webinars were held in April and May to introduce the materials to different stakeholders. Recordings of those webinars are available on request. Contact: Sarah Marlay: sarahemarlay@fs.fed.us.
 

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES


 


Central Africa 

 

Cameroon – Development of Emission Factor Calculation Guidance 

Cameroon / June 2017

Cameroon, through the REDD+ Steering committee, is moving forward with the implementation of its national forest monitoring system in 2017. For the MRV part of the process, it was agreed during the technical meeting held in Cameroon with the support of two USFS expert that one of the steps will be to evaluate the 2005 national forest inventory data. The REDD+ Steering Committee is now planning to hire a consultant who will finalize the evaluation and propose methodological guidance for the national forest inventory. This activity will be followed by a technical validation workshop scheduled to take place before the end of 2017. Contact: Valery-Olivier Sene, olivier.sene@fs-ip.us.  
 

Cameroon – Production of Thematic Maps Following the Validation of Cameroon’s Forest Definition

Yaoundé, Cameroon / July 2017 

As a follow-up to a previous training-of-trainers provided to Cameroonian partners by UMD using FACET mapping tools, consultation meetings are being held between Cameroon’s REDD+ technical secretariat, USFS, USGS, and other institutions involved in the Cameroon MRV institutional framework to prepare the second phase of support, which will lead to a production of thematic maps on land use changes from 2000 to 2015. Contact: Valery-Olivier Sene, olivier.sene@fs-ip.us. 


DRC – Training on Collecting National Forest Inventory Data in Wetland Forests 

DRC / June-July 2017

A USFS wetlands expert will work with DIAF to train national forest inventory field teams on forest inventory methodologies and techniques in wetland forest zones. Contact: Olivia Freeman, Olivia.freeman@fs-ip.us.


DRC – Training on Forest Cover Change and LiDAR 

Kinshasa, DRC / September 2017 

A training will be held for DIAF and Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d'Afrique Centrale (OSFAC) on tools and methodologies for detecting forest cover change and processing LiDAR data. Two experts from USFS-GTAC will deliver the training in Kinshasa. Contact: Olivia Freeman, Olivia.freeman@fs-ip.us.
 
  

 


Latin America and the Caribbean
 

Honduras – Forest Degradation Training Course

Tegucigalpa, Honduras / June 26-29, 2017

SilvaCarbon, in collaboration with FAO, is supporting a training course on forest degradation for partners in Honduras. The course will review potential definitions of degradation and different methodologies to measure degradation, expanding on previous regional workshops in order to provide a pathway for Honduras to incorporate forest degradation into its national forest inventory. SilvaCarbon technical advisor Craig Wayson will help facilitate the training. Contact: Craig Wayson, cwayson.silvacarbon@gmail.com. 
 
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South and Southeast Asia

 

Vietnam – 5th Working Session for AFOLU Inventory Using ALU Software

Fort Collins, CO / June 12-17, 2017

Building on past SilvaCarbon support, the US EPA will provide training to develop the capacity of Vietnam to apply specialized Agriculture and Land Use (ALU) software to generate projections of GHG emission for 2020 and 2030 based on 2014 inventory results. The activity will also focus on conducting quality control for the 2013 inventory results, and on applying IPCC 2006 Guidelines for the AFOLU inventory using the 2013 dataset. Contacts: Vo Viet Cuong, cuong.silvacarbon@gmail.com; Sarah Banks, scbanks@fs.fed.us; Mausami Desai, desai.mausami@epa.gov. 


Bangladesh – Training on Sample-Based Area and Mapping  for 2015-2016

College Park, MD / July 10-28, 2017

As a continuation of SilvaCarbon-Bangladesh's capacity-building support for the Bangladesh Forest Department (BFD), an upcoming training will focus on improving the ability of BFD to conduct operational forest monitoring on a routine basis using its national-scale forest mapping methodology. The proposed training will focus on near-real-time updating of forest resources to serve forest policy and management needs, and will be led by Matt Hansen of UMD’s Department of Geographical Sciences in College Park, MD. Contact: Elise Deriel, elisederiel@fs.fed.us. 
 
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Global

 

Coming Soon: Collect Earth Online

With SilvaCarbon support, USFS has partnered with FAO, NASA-SERVIR, and the Spatial Informatics Group to bring the powerful Collect Earth desktop application to the web browser. The resulting product, Collect Earth Online, is expected to be released in July 2017. Contact: Sasha Gottlieb, sbgottlieb@fs.fed.us. 
 

GFOI 2nd Capacity Building Summit

Kathmandu, Nepal / September 18-21, 2017

GFOI, with SilvaCarbon, will host the second GFOI Capacity Building Summit in Kathmandu, Nepal in September 2017. Based on outputs from the first such summit in 2014 and results from an evaluation conducted by GFOI partners including the World Bank, this initiative will engage key capacity building providers to investigate the impact of various efforts focused on building capacity for national forest monitoring. Contact: Sylvia Wilson, snwilson@usgs.gov.
 

About SilvaCarbon 

 
SilvaCarbon is a multi-agency technical cooperation program of the US Government to build capacity worldwide in measuring, monitoring, and managing forest and terrestrial carbon. SilvaCarbon agencies include 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 USAID and the US Department of State. Program implementation is led by USFS, USGS, US EPA, and NASA.

SilvaCarbon is also the primary 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). 


 
For more information: 
USAID, US Dept. of State, USFS, USGS, EPA, NASA, NOAA, Smithsonian

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