3. Introduction
Monitoring key for management and tracking
(positive) impact of activities
Purpose: provide information balancing
uncertainties, costs and benefits
4. Experiences and guidelines
Monitoring of forest related GHG emissions:
● Regular reporting of all countries to the UN
climate convention on land use change and
forestry - IPCC good practice guidelines
● Kyoto-countries: annual reporting for targets
● Project experiences from voluntary market
● Research and development
Varying data and capacity gaps exist in developing
countries (for larger area monitoring)
5. REDD+ monitoring capacities vs. engagement
Capacity gap in REDD+
Engagement
Notes:
Capacity gap derived from Romijn et al., 2012, ESP
Engagement: UN-REDD, WB-FCPF, Norway NIFCI
9. Change in forest areas remaining as forest (degradation)
• Caused by:
– Selective logging
– Forest fires
– Forest use (wood,
agricuture)
– ….
• Creates a complex
environment:
– Undisturbed forests
– Canopy gaps
– Exposed soils
– Dead vegetation
• Can be precursor to:
– Deforestation
– Further disturbances
Ikonos Image – Paragominas, PA
Souza Jr. and Roberts (2005) - IJRS
11. Google Earth Engine
1. Large satellite data catalogue
2. Platform for scientists and analysts to implement
and algorithms and upload own data
3. Global-scale algorithm processing to implement
mapping and monitoring (cloud)
4. Tool for (non-) experts to run detailed remote
sensing analysis
5. http://earthengine.googlelabs.com
13. Human induced disturbance
causing loss of forest: fire, clearing, selective extraction, …
Primary forest
Carbon stock
Deforestation
Time
14. Estimating emission factors
Considering changes in different carbon pools:
● Above- and belowground biomass
● Deadwood, litter and soil
Main data sources:
● Ground measurements (forest inventory)
● Remote sensing (combining with ground data)
Obtaining quality data on forest carbon stock change in
efficient manner:
● Key category analysis
● Stratify to measure in areas of changes
15. How to estimate emission?
Use defaults (Tier 1)
Create a good carbon
stock estimate (i.e.
combining ground data
with RS) – Tier 2
Repeated measurements
with focus on (Tier 3):
● Key C-pools
● In and around
areas of changes
16. Carbon stock change from deforestation/degradation
Tiers (C pool change) Certainty REDD Cost
1.Default values:
Red. Em.
Simple &
biomass in forest types by region conservative
and ecol. stratification, carbon starting point
fraction etc.
2. Country/regional data:
Conservative estimate
Motivation to
Red. Em.
Inventories (date, focus) improve
Ecological monitoring plots monitoring
Project studies/field samples system over
time
3. Full inventory of C stocks: Accurate &
Red. Em.
Comprehensive assessment established
Consider different carbon pools emissions
and assessment for all associated monitoring
changes
Conservative estimates:
1) Incomplete: a pool (e.g. soil) may be omitted
2) Uncertain: use confidence intervals
17. REDD+ monitoring: capacities & engagement
1. Institutional setup: coordination, roles,
capacities:
● Clear, simple, and sustainable
2. Build upon what is already available
3. Who should/could be involved:
● National/provincial experts
● Local experts/REDD+ implementers
● International experts
18. Conclusions
1. Thorough experiences for monitoring &
reporting forest-related GHG emission
2. Improvements in developing countries
through REDD+ related capacity
development
3. Approaches for handling uncertainties when
linking to financial incentives
4. Technology is (usually) not a limiting
factor; consider institutions and capacities
5. Focus should be on REDD+ activities
19. GOFC-GOLD REDD+ Sourcebook
http://www.gofcgold.wur.nl/redd
A sourcebook of methods and procedures for
monitoring and reporting anthropogenic greenhouse
gas emissions and removals caused by deforestation,
gains and losses of carbon stocks in forests
remaining forests, and forestation
Latest version published for COP-18 in Doha