WORKSHOP REPORT: First GFOI Technical Central Africa Initiative, June 2 5

Douala, Cameroon

Summary
From October 21 to 24, 2014, forestry officers and remote sensing specialists
from the Central Africa region, GEOFORAFRI representatives, and experts from
academe and private sector convened in Douala, Cameroon, to discuss the
current state of remote sensing data used for forest monitoring in the
region and outline a capacity building activities for further advancement.
The workshop provided a chance for participants to learn the basic principles of
different methodologies, and discuss and compare interoperability of
different sets of satellite images.
Field exercise with data collected at the forest sites along Douala included to
demonstrate the potential use of high-resolution data acquired from a
combination of aerial photography taken with drones.
The workshop highlighted the importance of having a clear objective and
purpose for forest monitoring in order to identify the most appropriate and
efficient data sets. There was a strong interest from the participants to deepen
their understanding on how to best utilize current and emerging technologies in
their national data acquisition plans.
The workshop on forest monitoring was planned with an overall aim to support
participating countries to continue to develop their data plan for country needs
in the context of REDD+. Different data sets were presented and the use of
different remote sensing data and their interoperability to create biomass
estimations will be discussed.
COMIFAC, the regional Forestry Commission for Central Africa, has a mandate to
coordinate and harmonize forest interventions across the Congo Basin, including
forest carbon measurement and monitoring. As such, in collaboration with
GEOFORAFRI and Airbus Defense, IGN-FI was well placed to co-host the first GEOGFOI-SilvaCarbon regional workshop in the sub-region, expanding the capacity
building exercise to all member countries. The first four days were dedicated to
all sub-region countries, and the last day was dedicated to planning for the
Central African SilvaCarbon countries (Cameroon, DRC and ROC) and BurkinaFaso as a GEOFORAFRI country.
A bilingual moderator (English/French) was facilitating the workshop and
ensuring adequate participation and understanding of the topics discussed.

1. Setting the scene

On the first day, GFOI representatives1 gave an overview of the Global Forest
Observation Initiative and Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) in context
of REDD+. GFOI is working to provide a platform for coordinated observations,
and assistance and guidance on utilizing observations. GFOI is lead by FAO,
CEOS, Australia, Norway, and the USA and it has four pillars of activities:

Capacity Building: Focused on enhancing capacity of countries for forest

and terrestrial carbon assessment and monitoring, using management
methodologies and technologies, and strengthening the community of
forest and terrestrial carbon technical experts.
Research and Development: Designed to identify and coordinate key
research topics identified by GFOI contributors. Inputs from countries on
topics for their national priorities are welcome.
Methods and Guidance: Provides methodological advice for how to use
remotely sensed and ground-based information for forest monitoring,
consistent with REDD+ activities, e.g., design decisions, estimating
emissions and removals, data provision for estimating emissions and
removals, overall uncertainties, and reporting.
Space Data Coordination: the Global Baseline Acquisition Strategy for
GFOI is developed with the objective of ensuring a sustained satellite data
supply to support global forest monitoring activities, focused on free and
open core data streams (e.g. Landsat, Copernicus/Sentinel, CBERS,
SAOCOM), with a minimum requirement for successful acquisition of at
least one annual national cloud-free optical coverage over each target
country. Menu of Space Data Services is under development for
providing targeted support based on actual country needs.

GFOI is focused on supporting the development of national forest monitoring

systems, in accordance with the UNFCCC methodological guidance for MRV for
REDD+, provided at COP 15 in 2009, requesting parties to ...establish,
according to national circumstances and capabilities, robust and transparent
national forest monitoring systems... The policy need for transparent and
consistent national forest monitoring drives the need for use of satellite remote
sensing data.
During the afternoon an introduction to data interoperability and fundamental
concepts of satellite data including types, availability and accessibility for the
Central African region were discussed as a platform for upcoming discussions
about best practice for selection and use of different remote sensing data and
techniques. A brief overview of different satellite imagery included: Coarse
resolution data like Modis; Moderate resolution imagery like Landsat; and high1

Full list of presenters and topics is included in the workshop agenda

resolution imagery like RapidEye, Ikonos and Quick bird. Case studies of using
multiple sensors for monitoring forest change were shared to demonstrate
their utility and interoperability.
On the second day practical tools that can help countries with their satellite
data were also shared: Space Data Management System, developed by
FAO is a program aiming to provide capacity building and technical
assistance/help desk, and to develop a cloud computing storage and processing
capacity that countries can access. CEOS Visualization Environment (COVE)
tool, developed by NASA is a free online tool that enables users to visualize
satellite instrument ground tracks. Biomass Geo Wiki is a tool that has
collected a comprehensive set of recent biomass data from around the globe,
and makes it freely available for visualization. Users are provided with an instant
global overview of available datasets, overlaid on the Google earth platform with
comparable units.
A more in-depth discussion of biomass mapping and estimation methodologies
was taking place during the day, with presentations of operational
methodologies and research methodologies using different sources of data. Two
global biomass pantropic maps methodologies were described and compared in
a nutshell with the purpose of identifying possible uses. Also, methods for
accuracy assessment of activity data were presented to highlight best practices
for validation of biomass maps, either global products or regional products.
LiDAR-assisted Multisource Programme (LAMP) for biomass/carbon
mapping: Examples of LiDAR work in Lao PDR, Nepal and Ghana, and combining
LiDAR with Alos Avnir-2 imagery for Land use mapping were shared. LiDAR can
be used as a prior data set for sample design and can decrease the time in the
field by compensating (some) field plots with surrogate plots. However, LiDAR
measurements are not the same as field measurements and they must be
connected to field observations through statistical modeling.
Terrestrial laser scanner: Examples for quantifying forest succession (Gabon),
biomass estimate (research from Australia, Gabon and Peru), and integration
with other sensors with the terrestrial Lidar data as calibration/validation source
for other data (e.g. Landsat imagery).

2. Field data collection

On the third day the group visited the forest sites along Douala. Data was
collected at two sites (one degraded site and one site with dense forest cover)
with UAVs, tablets with Open Foris application, and a terrestrial laser scanner.
The images from the flights were processed with open source software, Visual
Structure from Motion System and Clustering Views for Multi-view Stereo. The
data collected has been shared and is available upon request.

Ebee (Photo): Range: 3 km2 with

one flight lasting 40 minutes. cost:
about 25,000 including hardware and
software.

OpenForis Collect (photo): Open Foris is a FAO lead initiative for open source
software tools for developing multipurpose forest inventories: geospatial toolkit
(processing geographical data), Open Foris Calc (for NFI results calculations) and
Open Foris Collect (for field data management). Field data was collected with
Open Foris Mobile application, developed by Arbonaut for android devices. Field
tree measurements were taken and data entered into the Open Foris application
for demonstration.

Terrestrial full waveform laser scanner: was used to generate a very high
resolution scan of the forest state in the undisturbed site. The scans were

processed and showed the next day to discuss how they can be used to derive
parameters like biomass and canopy cover.

3. Data Interoperability conclusions for the workshop

On Thursday there was a demonstration of the field data taken the day before
integrated with Landsat and HR satellite data, and a discussion panel took place
that afternoon. Information exchange between a range of products or
data types can improve operational efficiency, improve standard error of
estimates by stratification, and can add new information. Working with different
remote sensing data sets can be used for modeling, validation/calibration of
data, and for independent estimates.

Points saillants des Discussions:

Data from different sensors can be combined and complemented with

field data e.g., LiDAR and SAR data, or LiDAR and field data, RapidEye
and Landsat data, etc. When working with time series, data from different
sensors can be used to combine cloud free images for a specific place.

Landsat is a primary source of Activity Data for many countries. Landsat

data base is freely available and continuously increasing, both with new
images from Landsat 8 and with historical imagery from other missions
dating back from 1972. This data is fully processed.
Methodologies have to be defined as operational and as in research
stage. Usually cutting edge methodologies for forest monitoring are not
being use in an operational manner in a national monitoring system.
Limitations of using UAVs have to be clearly communicated with

countries, e.g., its difficult to envisage using them for a wall-to-wall

mapping on national scale.
Countries are interested on having manuals and important scientific
information translated in French
o Documents o accuracy assessment and area estimation of activity
data are important.
o Documents on best practices for developing MRV systems are
important.
Number of autonomous helicopter and aircraft (i.e. UAVs, drones), and in
situ measurement tools are available to produce local high-resolution
maps, DEM, and other point cloud data products. These can provide a
practical and affordable linkage between satellite and in situ data at
relatively low cost. UAVs and high-resolution satellite imagery can also
provide references data, calibrate/validate other data sets, and the 3D
models offer possibilities for biomass estimation. They can help stratify
the data and make the NFI work more time and cost-efficient.
Need for sharing existing allometric equations within the region. The cost
of producing allometric equations is high, and new technology like TLS
can improve existing equations instead of investing in new allometric
equations.
Need to involved policy makers and project managers in technical
discussions to understand the dynamics between the evolution of
methodologies and the flexibility of policy.

4. Next Steps:
1

Creation of a regional coordination group for GFOI activities

Next GFOI regional workshops Central Africa: Based on the prioritization two
topics were selected for 2014: 1) Time series systems methodologies for the
production of free cloud mosaics 2) Accuracy assessment of Activity Data

Countries to nominate specific R&D priorities to be addressed in the

development of their own national forest monitoring systems. Additional
information on the GFOI R&D priorities can be found at http://gfoi.org/rd.

Workshop participants to provide feedback on the GFOI Methods and

Guidance document, which can be found at http://gfoi.org/methods-guidancedocumentation, and to the FCMC MRV Manual to be found at:
http://www.fcmcglobal.org/mrvmanual.html/

On the last day participants revisited the country presentations and worked in
groups to identify what type of knowledge is available and can be shared within
the region, and what type of support is needed from outside (Annexe 1):

Annexe 1: Rsums des presentations par pays

Pays
Republic of
Congo

Democratic
Republic of
Congo

Kenya

Capacity Building Needs Areas for further support

Cameroon

Real time monitoring on forest cover change (technical

support, accessing data)
Database management
Compiling existing RS data with current suitable data to
establish the base map
Cloud-free mosaics and Radar/Lidar processing
Geo statistics and databases for forest inventories
Marsh and Mangroves inventory
Capacity building of technical staff in the field of
processing, analysis, classifications of satellite images and
production of cloud free mosaics.
Data management and statistics on forest carbon
Integration of HR data into operational systems for
monitoring cover change
Time series analysis
Land Use and Land Cover change mapping
Validation of accuracy of maps
Time series systems for GHG fluxes, automatized
classification for Landsat
Database management
Establishment of forest reference levels
Design of an efficient national forest inventory (optimal
number of plots, plot distribution and sizes)
Ground data collection methods