Arun Kumar Pratihast

Linking community-based and national REDD+ monitoring: a review of the potential

Countries participating in REDD+ schemes are required to establish a national monitoring system that keeps track of forest carbon changes over time. Community-based monitoring (CBM) can be useful for tracking locally driven forest change activities and their impacts. In this paper, we review some of the key issues regarding CBM and options to link CBM and national forest monitoring systems. More specifically, we highlight the importance of local drivers of deforestation and degradation and, thus, the relevance of community involvement in REDD+ implementation and monitoring; we review the scientific literature to better define the role and technical conditions under which CBM can contribute to national level monitoring; we develop a conceptual framework for linking local and national monitoring; and we analyze and synthesize 28 REDD+ country approaches to CBM. Finally, we provide recommendations for integrating CBM data into national monitoring systems.

Mobile devices for community-based REDD+ monitoring: a case study for Central Vietnam.

Monitoring tropical deforestation and forest degradation is one of the central elements for the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD+) scheme. Current arrangements for monitoring are based on remote sensing and field measurements. Since monitoring is the periodic process of assessing forest stands properties with respect to reference data, adopting the current REDD+ requirements for implementing monitoring at national levels is a challenging task. Recently, the advancement in Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and mobile devices has enabled local communities to monitor their forest in a basic resource setting such as no or slow internet connection link, limited power supply, etc. Despite the potential, the use of mobile device system for community based monitoring (CBM) is still exceptional and faces implementation challenges. This paper presents an integrated data collection system based on mobile devices that streamlines the community-based forest monitoring data collection, transmission and visualization process. This paper also assesses the accuracy and reliability of CBM data and proposes a way to fit them into national REDD+ Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) scheme. The system performance is evaluated at Tra Bui commune, Quang Nam province, Central Vietnam, where forest carbon and change activities were tracked. The results show that the local community is able to provide data with accuracy comparable to expert measurements (index of agreement greater than 0.88), but against lower costs. Furthermore, the results confirm that communities are more effective to monitor small scale forest degradation due to subsistence fuel wood collection and selective logging, than high resolution remote sensing SPOT imagery.

Characterizing Forest Change Using Community-Based Monitoring Data and Landsat Time Series

Increasing awareness of the issue of deforestation and degradation in the tropics has resulted in efforts to monitor forest resources in tropical countries. Advances in satellite-based remote sensing and ground-based technologies have allowed for monitoring of forests with high spatial, temporal and thematic detail. Despite these advances, there is a need to engage communities in monitoring activities and include these stakeholders in national forest monitoring systems. In this study, we analyzed activity data (deforestation and forest degradation) collected by local forest experts over a 3-year period in an Afro-montane forest area in southwestern Ethiopia and corresponding Landsat Time Series (LTS). Local expert data included forest change attributes, geo-location and photo evidence recorded using mobile phones with integrated GPS and photo capabilities. We also assembled LTS using all available data from all spectral bands and a suite of additional indices and temporal metrics based on time series trajectory analysis. We predicted deforestation, degradation or stable forests using random forest models trained with data from local experts and LTS spectral-temporal metrics as model covariates. Resulting models predicted deforestation and degradation with an out of bag (OOB) error estimate of 29% overall, and 26% and 31% for the deforestation and degradation classes, respectively. By dividing the local expert data into training and operational phases corresponding to local monitoring activities, we found that forest change models improved as more local expert data were used. Finally, we produced maps of deforestation and degradation using the most important spectral bands. The results in this study represent some of the first to combine local expert based forest change data and dense LTS, demonstrating the complementary value of both continuous data streams. Our results underpin the utility of both datasets and provide a useful foundation for integrated forest monitoring systems relying on data streams from diverse sources.

Design and Implementation of an Interactive Web-Based Near Real-Time Forest Monitoring System

This paper describes an interactive web-based near real-time (NRT) forest monitoring system using four levels of geographic information services: 1) the acquisition of continuous data streams from satellite and community-based monitoring using mobile devices, 2) NRT forest disturbance detection based on satellite time-series, 3) presentation of forest disturbance data through a web-based application and social media and 4) interaction of the satellite based disturbance alerts with the end-user communities to enhance the collection of ground data. The system is developed using open source technologies and has been implemented together with local experts in the UNESCO Kafa Biosphere Reserve, Ethiopia. The results show that the system is able to provide easy access to information on forest change and considerably improves the collection and storage of ground observation by local experts. Social media leads to higher levels of user interaction and noticeably improves communication among stakeholders. Finally, an evaluation of the system confirms the usability of the system in Ethiopia. The implemented system can provide a foundation for an operational forest monitoring system at the national level for REDD+ MRV applications.

The role of digital data entry in participatory environmental monitoring

Many argue that monitoring conducted exclusively by scientists is insufficient to address ongoing environmental challenges. One solution entails the use of mobile digital devices in participatory monitoring (PM) programs. But how digital data entry affects programs with varying levels of stakeholder participation, from nonscientists collecting field data to nonscientists administering every step of a monitoring program, remains unclear. We reviewed the successes, in terms of management interventions and sustainability, of 107 monitoring programs described in the literature (hereafter programs) and compared these with case studies from our PM experiences in Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greenland, and Vietnam (hereafter cases). Our literature review showed that participatory programs were less likely to use digital devices, and 2 of our 3 more participatory cases were also slow to adopt digital data entry. Programs that were participatory and used digital devices were more likely to report management actions, which was consistent with cases in Ethiopia, Greenland, and Australia. Programs engaging volunteers were more frequently reported as ongoing, but those involving digital data entry were less often sustained when data collectors were volunteers. For the Vietnamese and Canadian cases, sustainability was undermined by a mismatch in stakeholder objectives. In the Ghanaian case, complex field protocols diminished monitoring sustainability. Innovative technologies attract interest, but the foundation of effective participatory adaptive monitoring depends more on collaboratively defined questions, objectives, conceptual models, and monitoring approaches. When this foundation is built through effective partnerships, digital data entry can enable the collection of more data of higher quality. Without this foundation, or when implemented ineffectively or unnecessarily, digital data entry can be an additional expense that distracts from core monitoring objectives and undermines project sustainability. The appropriate role of digital data entry in PM likely depends more on the context in which it is used and less on the technology itself.

Carbon emissions from land cover change in Central Vietnam

ABSTRACT The carbon emissions and removals due to land cover changes between 2001 and 2010 in the Vu Gia Thu Bon River Basin, Central Vietnam, were estimated using Landsat satellite images and 3083 forest inventory plots. The net emissions from above- and belowground vegetation biomass were equal to 1.76 ± 0.12 Tg CO2, about 1.1% of the existing stocks. The vast majority of carbon emissions were due to forest loss, with the conversion of forest to cropland accounting for 67% of net emissions. Forest regrowth had a substantial impact on net carbon changes, removing 22% of emissions from deforestation. Most deforestation occurred in regrowth forest (60%) and plantations (29%), characterized by low carbon stock density. Thus identifying the type of forest where deforestation occurred and using local field data were critical with net emissions being 4 times larger when considering only one forest class with average carbon stock, and 5–7 times higher when using literature default values or global emission maps. Carbon emissions from soil (up to 30 cm) were estimated for the main land change class. Due to the low emission factors from biomass, soils proved a key emission category, accounting for 30% of total land emissions that occurred during the monitoring period.

Estimation of Evapotranspiration from Wetlands Using Geospatial and Hydrometeorological Data

Over recent decades, wetlands have been recognized increasingly for their high biodiversity and for the important hydrological functions, including flood alleviation, low-flow support, nutrient cycling and groundwater recharge (Thakur, 2010; Thakur et al., 2011). Wetland hydrology is a primary driving force influencing wetland ecology, its development and persistence (Mitsch and Gosselink, 1993). For most wetlands, evapotranspiration (ET) is the major component of water loss, and when considered as its energy equivalent, the latent heat flux (LE), the largest consumer of incoming energy (Reynolds et al., 2000; Wilson et al., 2001). The radiation and the turbulent heating drive the dynamics of the land-atmosphere energy exchanges in the wetlands. Estimation of these radiation and turbulent heating through mass energy balance equations is the core of numerical weather forecast, climate research, water resources and environmental management and long-term agriculture production. Most of the conventional methods which use point measurement in measuring the energy balance, such as Bowen ratio, Penman-Monteith, Priestley and Taylor, give results that can be efficient on local level but could not be extended to large scale or global scale measurement in time and space (Stewart, 1989).

Near real-time tropical forest disturbance monitoring using Landsat time series and local expert monitoring data

In this paper, we present an integrated near real-time forest disturbance monitoring system which utilizes temporally dense Landsat time series in combination with a continuous local expert based system in a tropical forest ecosystem in southern Ethiopia. Landsat time series were analyzed using the Break detection For Additive Season and Trend Monitor (BFAST Monitor) method and in situ local expert data was in turn facilitated by the use of mobile devices programmed to be able to classify land use changes. BFAST Monitor was found to be able to describe forest change dynamics using irregular Landsat time series data with frequent cloud and SLC-off gaps. Disturbance data collected by local experts enhanced the BFAST Monitor results by providing contextual information such as the specific area and local drivers of disturbance events.

Forest Change and REDD+ Strategies

In recent years the United Nations initiative on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) program gained increasing attention in the policy arena, representing a valuable incentive for developing countries to take actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time promote sustainable forest management and improve local livelihoods . To design an effective REDD+ implementation plan at the local level it is crucial to make an in-depth analysis of the international and national requirements, analyse the forest change processes and related drivers at sub-national scale, and assess the local management options and constrains to ultimately select the appropriate policy mix and land management interventions . The present chapter first describes the state and historical changes of forests in Vietnam, identifies the direct and underlying drivers of deforestation and forest degradation at national scale, discusses the role of forests for climate change mitigation and indicates the key activities for reducing carbon emissions in Vietnam. Second, the main biophysical parameters and processes are assessed at sub-national scale for the Vu Gia Thu Bon river basin. The land cover and carbon stocks are mapped and quantified for the year 2010 and the land cover change and related carbon emissions are estimated for the period 2001–2010, allowing to model the land cover change and predict deforestation risks until the year 2020. Among the areas at higher risk of deforestation, the Tra Bui commune located in Quang Nam province is selected to design a sub-national REDD+ implementation plan in the third part of the chapter. The plan is based upon an in-depth analysis of the local context and land cover change dynamics, the local drivers of deforestation and a conducted stakeholder involvement process in the commune. Based upon this analysis, the last section provides recommendations about the local land management strategies that could be introduced in the commune and discusses the policy interventions are likely to enable their implementation.