www.jrc.ec.europa.eu

Presented by Frédéric Achard

JRC future activities: TropForest and ReCaREDD projects

First ‘High level’ objective of the FRC unit

Assessment of the state and condition (extent, health & vitality, threats) of forest resources, and monitoring of their trends

Activity 1.1. Production of updates of forest cover assessments (with improved accuracy) for Europe and the Tropics

Activity 1.2. Development of Earth Observation based monitoring techniques used in combination with ancillary data (e.g. from forest inventories…) to assess forest degradation processes for Europe and the tropical regions.

Activity 1.3. …

Activity 3.4. Development of improved internationally agreed methods for the estimation of carbon fluxes from changes in forest resources

Activity 3.5. Technology transfer to developing countries for enhancement of their forest resources monitoring & reporting capabilities

Third High level objective of the FRC unit

Analysis of Climate Change adaptation and mitigation in forestry, preparing forests for climate change and proposing measures to mitigate carbon emissions

Tropical South and Central America Sub - Saharan Africa South and Southeast Asia

1230 sample units 2045 sample units 741 sample units

Assessment of Forest resources from a systematic sample20 km X 20 km size boxes at every full degree confluence point

-> 4016 sample units in the tropics

Forest Mask Normalized

L0 L1 L2

Segmentation, 2 Levels: 1 & 5 ha

De-hazedCalibrated ETM

Automated Pre-processing Chain

Year 2000 data >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Year 2010 data >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Pre-processing of Landsat imagery (30 m res)

Beuchle et al. (2011) Int. J. Remote Sens. 32:7009-7031

Bodart et al. (2011) ISPRS J. Photogram. Remote Sensing, 66: 555–563.

Raši et al (2011) Remote Sens. Env. 115:3659–3669

Raši et al (2013) IEEE JSTARS 6:66-73

Eva et al., 2012, Forest cover changes in tropical South and Central America from 1990 to 2005 and related carbon emissions and removals Remote Sens. 4, 1369-1391

Annual deforestation rates during period 1990-2000

FAO & JRC. 2012 Global forest land-use change 1990–2005FAO Forestry Paper No. 169. http://www.fao.org/forestry/fra/remotesensi ngsurvey/en/

Mayaux et al, State and evolution of the African rainforests between 1990 and 2010. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. accepted

Bodart et al, 2013 Continental estimates of forest cover and forest cover changes in the dry ecosystems of Africa for the period 1990 – 2000. Journal of Biogeography. doi:10.1111/jbi.12084

Forest area estimates for year 2000 (million ha) in South & Central America

Source

Region

FAO FRA- 2000 RSS / Landsat Pathfinder

TREES- II

SDSUFAO

FRA-2010 Country Survey

This study

Central and South America

700(RSS-2000)

727 814 884 753

BrazilForests

Forests + OWL (2010)546563

418519

Legal Amazon 344(LP)

369 376

-> very good correspondence between INPE and JRC/EMBRAPA interpretations

y = 1.017x - 847.2R2 = 0.98610

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 45000

Forest area 1990 (ha) Sao Jose dos Campos

Fore

st a

rea

1990

(ha)

Cam

pina

s

y = 1.0078x + 105.55R2 = 0.9777

-10 000

-5 000

-

5 000

10 000

15 000

20 000

25 000

-10 000 -5 000 - 5 000 10 000 15 000 20 000 25 000

Deforestation -Sao Jose dos Campos Team (ha)

Def

ores

tatio

n - C

ampi

nas

Team

(ha)

Forest area (1990 epoch)y = 1.017x - 847.2 R2 = 0.9861

Deforestation 1990-2000y = 1.0078x + 105.55 R2 = 0.9777

Based on 34 sample units,

mostly in forest change

areas

Comparison with INPE results

JRC sample sites on ABG Biomass map (Saatchi map)

S09 W062

Saatchi et al, PNAS, 2011

S09_W062Tree Cover2000 with

fullycontained

SaatchiMap pixels

S09_W062change

2000-2010With year 2000‘pure’

Saatchipixels

Eva et al., 2012, Forest cover changes in tropical South and Central America from 1990 to 2005 and related carbon emissions and removals Remote Sens. 4, 1369-1391

Deforestation Carbon emissions

To

From

Forest land

Other Land“Intact (natural) Forest”

“non-intact Forest”

Forest land

“Intact (natural) Forest”

Forest conservation

Forest Degradation Deforestation

“non- intact

Forest”

Enhancement ofC stocks

(forest restoration)

Sustainable Management

of ForestsDeforestation

Other Land -Enhancement

of C stocks(A/R)

Stock change method: C before – C after

Gain-loss: growth – harvest – other losses

UNFCCC REDD+ requirements

Bucki et al, 2012, Assessing REDD+ performance of countries with low monitoring capacities: the matrix approach. Environ. Res. Lett., 7 (2012) 014031.

Remote sensing parameters for degradation monitoring

Forest degradation parameter (from definitions)

Visual variable Forest degradation parameter in remote sensing

Reduction of carbon stock (biomass)

• Forest fragmentation

• Forest ‘thinning’

• Canopy density/crown cover reduction

• Not detectable

Reduction of wood value • Loss of older trees

• Loss of valuable species

• Texture change (smaller forest canopies)

• Reflectance change

Canopy reduction • Forest fragmentation • Canopy density

Change in structure • Trees layers change • Texture change

Change in species composition

• Forest structure and function change

• Reflectance change

Loss of productivity (function)

• Reduction of green vegetation

• FAPAR long term change

Loss of biodiversity • Forest homogenization • Texture change

Natural caused • - • Rainfall, T, fires

Long-term duration • - • Time series

(Sample Site N18 E082, India)

Kompsat, 4 m resolution

20 January 2010

Landsat, 30 m resolution

15 December 2001

Assessment of tropical forest degradation from fine resolution imagery (c. 10m)

ReCaREDD project (to start in October 2013)

Strengthening national and regional capacities for reporting on the mitigation actions of the forest sector

The project will cover selected tropical regions or countries with 3 main activities:

1. Further development of methodologies with partner countries for reporting on the reduction of emissions and the enhancement of carbon stocks,

2. Strengthening of regional forest observatories and related national institutions in selected countries for their reporting to the UNFCCC (REDD+),

3. Provision of transparent and consistent information of forest-cover evolution to policy makers in partner countries and EU services involved in international environmental negotiations.

Just published (Nov. 2012)

www.routledge.com/books/details/9781466552012

Thanks for your attention