Les évaluations des ressources forestières mondiales

Latin American experts gain skills with cutting edge forest monitoring tools

FAO training will strengthen regional data gathered for Global Forest Resources Assessment


Santa Marta (Colombia) – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) conducted a regional workshop to train national experts in Latin America to gather data for the Remote Sensing Survey (RSS) of FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA). 

The FRA provides essential information for understanding the condition, extent, management and uses of forest resources across the globe.

Twenty-seven remote sensing experts from Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela gathered in Santa Marta, Colombia, from 12 to 16 May 2025 for the EU-funded workshop.

“Reliable forest data are essential for informed decision-making and long-term forest planning,” said Mohamed Agamy, FAO Forest Data Analyst. “This training strengthens national expertise in using cutting-edge remote sensing tools to generate consistent and accurate information on forest dynamics. This can be used to inform policies that protect biodiversity and carbon storage for climate resilience.”

Advanced monitoring techniques

South America has the highest share of forest in protected areas, according to the FRA 2020 report, at 31 percent of an estimated total 726 million hectares worldwide. However, these ecosystems face growing threats from climate change, deforestation and wildfires, making effective forest monitoring and protection key. 

The main objective of the workshop was to develop national capacities in FAO’s latest methodologies for remote sensing using Collect Earth Online, an open-source software for satellite image interpretation. The participants were equipped with tools to track changes in forest extent, trends and main drivers for land use change dynamics between 2000 and 2024.

FAO’s global Remote Sensing Survey

Since its creation, FAO has been conducting global forest resources assessments to inform the decisions and recommendations of civil society, the private sector, governments and international conventions. These global assessments are primarily based on standardized country reports compiled by officially nominated national correspondents.

Since 1990, FAO complements information collected through the FRA country reporting process with independent and thorough analyses of forest area and how it changes over time using remote sensing. The FRA 2025 RSS will provide up-to-date, reliable and consistent estimates of forest area and forest area change at global, regional and biome levels up to the year 2024.

Slated for release in 2026, the new survey will update data on variables from the previous RSS cycle and collect new information on agroforestry systems, pastoral systems, types of crops, burned forests, mangroves and trees outside of forests. 

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