Proceedings of the international workshop on monitoring forest degradation in Southeast Asia

Abstract

The international workshop on monitoring forest degradation in Southeast Asia provided a forum for discussion of the technical, social and political challenges and successes that have occurred during recent work in sub-national forest degradation monitoring. The 2012 workshop, held in Bangkok, Thailand, followed recent US Forest Service/LEAF (USAID's Lowering Emissions in Asia's Forests) forest degradation monitoring options assessments that took place in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam. Forest degradation can play a significant role in decreasing forest carbon, and therefore should be included in forest carbon monitoring for purposes of greenhouse gas inventories and participation in prospective carbon markets. Yet despite this, accurate monitoring methodologies are not widely available, and pertinent definitions and drivers are not clearly defined. The workshop allowed for a comprehensive update of techniques being used in case studies worldwide, in addition to the implications of forest degradation definitions and thresholds that lack consensus. Topics discussed included drivers at varying levels, remote sensing techniques and approaches, ground based field measurements, uncertainties and design considerations, integration of monitoring techniques, and regional themes and next steps.

Titles contained within Proceedings of the international workshop on monitoring forest degradation in Southeast Asia

• Introduction (PSW-GTR-246)
• Section summary: Institutional context, drivers and detectability in REDD+ implementation
• Definitions in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
• Degradation activities, drivers, and emissions: US Forest Service LEAF Country Assessments
• Section summary: Remote sensing
• Detecting and monitoring deforestation and forest degradation: Issues and obstacles for Southeast Asia
• Measuring global canopy reduction: A forest degradation proxy for FRA2015
• Remote sensing application challenges in the Mekong region
• Assessing forest degradation in Guyana with GeoEye, Quickbird and Landsat
• Section summary: Ground-based field measurements
• Carbon and biodiversity loss due to forest degradation – a Cambodian case study
• Local involvement in measuring and governing carbon stocks in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Laos
• Methods for monitoring emissions and removals from forest harvesting for timber and fuelwood: Lessons from Guyana
• Section summary: Uncertainty and design considerations
• Uncertainty issues in forest monitoring: All you wanted to know about uncertainties and never dared to ask
• Application of a Monte Carlo framework with bootstrapping for quantification of uncertainty in baseline map of carbon emissions from deforestation in Tropical Regions
• Section summary: Integration of monitoring techniques
• Practicalities of methodologies in monitoring morest degradation in the tropics
• Forest degradation sub-national assessments: Monitoring options for Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam
• Summary of small group discussions: Detection of forest degradation drivers
• Summary of small group discussions: Monitoring objectives and thresholds
• Summary of small group discussions: Regional themes and next steps
• Conclusions (PSW-GTR-246)
• Literature cited (PSW-GTR-246)

Citation

Mortenson, Leif A.; Halperin, James J.; Manley, Patricia N.; Turner, Rich L., eds. 2013. Proceedings of the international workshop on monitoring forest degradation in Southeast Asia. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-246. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. 56 p.