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| Global Forest Observations Initiative | |
|---|---|
| Name | Global Forest Observations Initiative |
| Formation | 2012 |
| Type | International initiative |
| Headquarters | Geneva |
| Region served | Global |
| Parent organization | United Nations Environment Programme |
Global Forest Observations Initiative is an international initiative focused on improving forest monitoring through standardized observations, technical capacity, and data sharing. The Initiative engages with multilateral organizations, national agencies, research institutions, and civil society to coordinate remote sensing, field inventories, and policy-relevant reporting. It links operational monitoring efforts with scientific programs to inform international agreements and national planning.
The Initiative operates at the intersection of United Nations Environment Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Group on Earth Observations, Global Forest Watch, and World Meteorological Organization frameworks, supporting countries, European Space Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Canadian Space Agency, and Indian Space Research Organisation collaborations. It brings together stakeholders from Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, International Union for Conservation of Nature, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund programs. Partners include research centers such as CIFOR-ICRAF, Wageningen University, University of Oxford, Stanford University, and University of California, Berkeley. The Initiative interfaces with regional bodies like African Union, European Commission, ASEAN, Mercosur, and Pacific Islands Forum to align forest observation priorities.
The Initiative emerged from dialogues at the Rio+20 Conference and negotiations under United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change processes, with technical roots in projects like Landsat, MODIS, Sentinel-2, and ICESat-2. Early development involved workshops convened by World Resources Institute, Conservation International, UN-REDD Programme, and FAO technical units, drawing expertise from Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Smithsonian Institution, British Geological Survey, and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Funding and pilot implementations were supported by European Investment Bank, Global Environment Facility, Green Climate Fund, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Rockefeller Foundation. Key milestones include alignment with reporting timelines of Paris Agreement submissions and integration with inventories used by Kyoto Protocol mechanisms and REDD+ frameworks.
The Initiative aims to harmonize national and global forest observation systems to meet reporting needs of Paris Agreement Parties, Convention on Biological Diversity National Biodiversity Strategies, and Sustainable Development Goals indicators. It seeks interoperability among platforms such as Copernicus Programme, GEOGLAM, SERVIR, NASA Earth Observing System, and Global Land Cover Facility. Objectives include enhancing capacities of institutions like National Forestry Institute, Ministry of Environment, Forest Research Institute Malaysia, and Brazilian National Institute for Space Research to produce data compatible with assessments by IPCC, Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and World Resources Institute analyses. Scope spans forest extent, biomass, biodiversity proxies, disturbance, and land-use change across biomes from Amazon Rainforest to Taiga and Congo Basin.
The Initiative promotes standardized field protocols influenced by Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, RAPELD designs, and methods used by National Forest Inventory programs in United States Department of Agriculture and Brazilian Forest Service. It integrates remote sensing inputs from Landsat Programme, Copernicus Sentinel, Planet Labs, ICESat, GEDI, and RADARSat with airborne LiDAR campaigns by National Ecological Observatory Network and regional airborne surveys coordinated by EO-TEC. Data pipelines adopt standards from Open Geospatial Consortium, ISO 19115, and Time-Sync approaches, and employ software from Google Earth Engine, QGIS, R Project, and GRASS GIS for processing. Calibration and validation draw on reference sites associated with Long Term Ecological Research Network, ForestGEO, National Ecological Observatory Network, and museum collections at Natural History Museum, London and Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History.
Governance combines advisory panels with representation from United Nations Environment Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Group on Earth Observations, World Bank, Global Environment Facility, and civil society bodies such as WWF, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and The Nature Conservancy. Scientific oversight engages institutions including Max Planck Society, National Academy of Sciences, Royal Society, European Research Council, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education. Operational partnerships include regional organizations like African Forest Forum, Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission, and Latin American Forestry Organization. Capacity development programs are delivered with University of Cambridge, ETH Zurich, Imperial College London, and Indian Institute of Science collaborating on training and knowledge transfer.
Outputs support national reporting for Paris Agreement Nationally Determined Contributions, REDD+ implementation, Convention on Biological Diversity monitoring, and Sustainable Development Goals tracking used by United Nations Development Programme and World Bank investment decisions. The Initiative's datasets inform conservation planning by IUCN Red List, landscape restoration prioritized by Bonn Challenge signatories, and private sector sustainability commitments such as Science Based Targets initiative and Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. Applications extend to carbon accounting used by Voluntary Carbon Standard, wildfire risk modeling for National Interagency Fire Center, and ecosystem services valuation incorporated into Natural Capital Project tools.
Critiques focus on data sovereignty concerns raised by Indigenous Peoples' Rights International, Minority Rights Group International, and deforestation governance debates in Brazil, Indonesia, and Democratic Republic of the Congo. Technical challenges include harmonizing disparate datasets from Landsat, Sentinel, GEDI, and commercial providers like Maxar Technologies and Planet Labs, and ensuring methodological consistency across national inventories such as those of United States Forest Service and Brazilian National Institute for Space Research. Funding sustainability issues have been noted by donors including Global Environment Facility and Green Climate Fund, and scalability concerns are highlighted by researchers at CIFOR-ICRAF and IIASA. Ethical debates over surveillance, benefit-sharing with local communities, and intellectual property intersect with legal frameworks like Convention on Biological Diversity and discussions at UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Category:International environmental organizations