2019

Dr Sarah Carter from the University of Wageningen explains how the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) works to close the knowledge and technology gap between countries in the age of satellites. A number of new satellites are being launched, which generate biomass data and other useful data that countries can use to monitor forest change and calculate emissions. GFOI provides guidance on how to use satellite data sets to estimate forest area change in a statistically robust manner. This is important in terms of monitoring forests for climate mitigation, says Dr Carter. The University of Wageningen works closely with the European Space Agency to lead the Research and Development part of the Global Forest Observations Initiative.