The field study was undertaken in collaboration with the Royal Forest Department of Thailand (RFD) and the Regional Community Forestry Training Centre (RECOFTC). The authors are thankful to both institutions for their positive and constructive collaboration throughout the field study.
In particular the following people must be thanked for making this field study possible.
The Director of the Forest Resource Assessment Division of the Royal Forest Department, Mr. Thongchai Charuppat for his kind assistance in providing staff, advice and support as well as vehicles for transportation for the field study.
Ms Jiriwan Charuppat and Ms Khanita Medeej of the RFD and Ms Somjai Srimonkontip of RECOFTC for being knowledgeable, hardworking and good spirited counterparts for the duration of the fieldwork.
A general thanks to all the farmers and villagers at the three sites that were willing to share their knowledge and thoughts with us, is also appropriate.
FAO, at the request of member nations and the world community, regularly monitors the world’s forests through the Forest Resources Assessment Programme. The next report, the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000 (FRA 2000), will review the forest situation by the end of the millennium. FRA 2000 will include country-level information based on existing forest inventory data, regional investigations of land-cover change processes, and a number of global studies focusing on the interaction between people and forests. The FRA 2000 report is made public at the end of the year. Findings will be distributed on the World Wide Web in the year 2000.
One component of FRA 2000 is a survey of forest cover changes using satellite remote sensing. The survey is based on a pan-tropical sample of 117 Landsat TM images from three points in time during the period 1980-2000. The images are interpreted as to observable changes in the forest cover, and will provide objective estimates on a regional level. This working paper documents both quantitatively and qualitatively three observed forest cover changes in the northeastern part of Thailand.
The objectives and methodology of the RSS are described in detail in the Forest Resources Assessment Working Paper number eight.
The fieldwork also included developing and testing methodologies for a future systematic field sampling. This task relates to a proposed extension of the current remote sensing survey into a World Forest Survey (WFS) to be carried out under the leadership of FAO. WFS would include a field component with the general objective to assess the supply and demand situation for forest products and services on a global basis.
