Potential for a remote-sensing-aided forest resource survey for the whole globe

Abstract

The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000 (FRA 2000) relied primarily on information provided by countries, but FAO also conducted a remote-sensing study of tropical forests to complement country information and to bolster understanding of land-cover change processes in the tropics, especially deforestation, forest degradation, fragmentation and shifting cultivation. Remote-sensing-based inventory can help confirm estimates obtained from other sources, and can also contribute to country capacity building through possible regional or national training centres. This article considers the feasibility of extending remote-sensing-aided forest resource survey, independent of countries' traditional inventories, to the whole globe in FRA 2010. The emphasis would be on global-level estimates of area change for forest and other wooded land, which would be constructed from estimates at the regional level, with a possible distinction into temperate, boreal and tropical zones. The tropical remote-sensing surveys in FRA 1990 and FRA 2000 were carried out using visual interpretation. The main advantage of visual interpretation is that contextual information and expert knowledge can be used in the analysis more easily and sometimes more accurately than through digital methods. However, visual interpretation is laborious and subjective. These drawbacks are more critical in global surveys with varying vegetation zones. Areas with sparse tree cover, such as semi-arid lands and boreal tundra woodland, are especially difficult to evaluate.

Citation

Tomppo, E.; Czaplewski, R. L. 2002. Potential for a remote-sensing-aided forest resource survey for the whole globe. Unasylva. 53: 16-18.