Partners
National
Departments and Agencies
National
forestry departments/ministries have the ultimate responsibility
for the management of the forests in their jurisdictions.
GOFC-GOLD will help these organizations view their forests
in a continental and global context. Since it is not practical
to try to set up direct communication between GOFC and the
hundreds of forest ministries worldwide, GOFC-GOLD intends
to make use of the FAO regional forest commissions, and other
regional organizations for this purpose.
Two national
forest agencies that have played a key role in GOFC-GOLD's
development are the Canadian Forest Service and the USDA Forest
Service. The Canadian
Forest Service (CFS) has contributed expertise in many
areas to the GOFC-GOLD design process including remote sensing
for forest inventory, forest inventory update, monitoring
and mapping of fires, and information requirements for policy
and reporting at the national level. It is expected to continue
to participate in the specification and development of GOFC-GOLD
products. The USDA
Forest Service (USFS) has contributed expertise in forest
inventory, forest fire information, and the use of information
derived from earth-observation and other sources in international
policy development.
Other
national agencies are expected to contribute to, and benefit
from GOFC-GOLD, in such areas as remote sensing research,
development of climate models, and the development and implementation
of policies based on more accurate and reliable forest information.
For example, the National
Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), the main research
branch of the Environment Agency (EA) of Japan, has contributed
its expertise in the use of data from coarse resolution sensors
to the GOFC-GOLD design process.
The Earth
Resources Observation Satellite (EROS) Data Centre (EDC)
of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has contributed
personnel and expertise to the development of GOFC-GOLD. It
offers strong capabilities in the areas of satellite data
reception, preprocessing, archive, and distribution of data,
as well as increasing expertise in the production of wide-area
derived products. EDC has been central in the production of
a 1-km resolution global land cover characteristics database.
Other
national agencies who have played a role in GOFC-GOLD are:
Chinese
Academy of Forestry (CAF), Forest
Survey of India (FSI), and Instituto
Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Rescursos Naturais Renovaveis
(IBAMA).
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