StatEO26: GFOI R&D session on integrating EO and ground data for enhanced forest-related biomass estimation

The Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) Research and Development (R&D) Coordination Component will hold a workshop during the 2026 Earth Observation for Official Statistics and policy indicators reporting Conference (StatEO26) on 7 May 2026 from 11:45-13:30 UTC+2. This workshop, taking place in the James Cook Room at the European Space Agency (ESA) Centre for Earth Observation in Frascati, Italy, will delve into current needs and opportunities for integrating forest biomass information from forest inventories, national statistics and Earth Observation (EO) to strengthen the monitoring and reporting of forest biomass for environmental assessments and climate action.

It will begin with a review of the latest recommendations on using EO-based biomass products within measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) processes and international frameworks, as well as briefly touch upon ESA’s biomass mission advances. Building upon recent discussions led by the GFOI, it will detail three different pathways leading towards the integration of these datasets, namely:

1. key considerations for the design of new ground-based campaigns to ensure both compatibility with and added value from EO datasets; 
2. lessons learned from experiences combining and harmonizing different existing in-situ data for their integration with EO datasets; and 
3. assessments of inferential strategies for the integration of EO-based biomass datasets with in-situ data to enhance the precision of biomass estimates at different geographical scales.

These pathways aim to support a broad range of end users in biomass estimation for forest monitoring and management purposes. Please click here to review the complete agenda. A summary of the workshop will be published on the R&D Component website, and its outcomes will contribute to ESA's ongoing work on forest monitoring.