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Thailand hosts 2nd GEO Forest Monitoring Symposium
The 2nd GEO Forest Monitoring Symposium, held in Chiang Rai, Thailand, from 1 to 3 July, focused on making further progress towards a GEOSS Forest Monitoring System. Building on the achievements of the 1st Symposium, held last November in Brazil, the Chiang Rai Symposium explored how to meet the operational needs of the full range of users dealing with forests and forest-related issues.
Organized by Thailand’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) and the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), the Symposium discussed the operational features of the GEOSS Forest Monitoring System, including products, interoperability and scalability. The 74 participants considered how national forest activities can contribute and how the GEOSS system will serve the different user communities. The Symposium also provided an opportunity for GEO outreach in the South East Asia Region.
The Symposium was structured into three main sessions:
- The first session featured presentations of several national and regional examples of forest monitoring activities and provided a good understanding of the system functionalities and performance levels needed to support a variety of users;
- The second session split the participants into three parallel breakout groups: (i) biodiversity, invasive species, forest ecology and protected areas; (ii) forest inventory, biomass and carbon; and (iii) forest and land-cover dynamics. Discussions focused on the architecture of the system, its main features, and its products and services; and
- The third session discussed a preliminary definition of the system’s main components, reviewed them from a user perspective and discussed options for further development. It considered the need for coordination and compatibility with other on-going GEOSS developments and other initiatives of global relevance.
The Symposium’s concluded that:
- The current concept for the GEOSS Forest Monitoring System meets the basic requirements of being cross-cutting, inclusive and open; it should serve as the initial basis for further development;
- The full inclusion of users into the development process has been a key factor in the success of this effort so far; and
- The approach taken for demonstrating and subsequently implementing the GEO Forest and Carbon Tracking System provides an important “test case” for the implementation of the broader Forest Monitoring System.
Information about the Symposium, including the list of participants and the presentations, can be found at http://conference.gistda.or.th/2ndgeoforest/. |
