10:50 p.m.
Dear IUFRO Meliaceae E-list:
IUFRO Spotlight #45 may be of interest. Other Spotlights can be found at:
http://www.iufro.org/media/iufro-spotlights/
Regards,
Sheila Ward
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: IUFRO Headquarters <office(a)iufro.org>
Date: Wed, Apr 5, 2017 at 1:16 AM
Subject: IUFRO Spotlight #45 - If you're 'remotely' interested in
monitoring biodiversity…
To: Dear IUFRO Officeholder <mahoganyforthefuture(a)gmail.com>
[image: IUFRO Spotlight]
IUFRO Spotlight #45 - If you're 'remotely' interested in monitoring
biodiversity…
*IUFRO Spotlight* is an initiative of the International Union of Forest
Research Organizations. Its aim is to introduce, in a timely fashion,
significant findings in forest research from IUFRO officeholders and member
organizations to a worldwide network of decision makers, policy makers and
researchers.
IUFRO will encapsulate, and distribute in plain language, brief, topical
and policy-relevant highlights of those findings, along with information on
where/how to access the full documents. The *IUFRO Spotlight* findings will
be distributed in a periodic series of emails as well as blog postings.
*________________________________*
*If you're 'remotely' interested in monitoring biodiversity…*
PDF for download
<http://www.iufro.org/download/file/26522/6462/spotlight45-sourcebook_pdf/>
<http://www.iufro.org/index.php?eID=tx_cms_showpic&file=18065&md5=6cd0c51a11d4adb582fa9cbb4fc39bffead83fd3¶meters%5B0%5D=YTo0OntzOjU6IndpZHRoIjtzOjQ6IjgwMG0iO3M6NjoiaGVpZ2h0IjtzOjQ6IjYw¶meters%5B1%5D=MG0iO3M6NzoiYm9keVRhZyI7czoyMjoiPGJvZHkgYmdjb2xvcj0iYmxhY2siPiI7¶meters%5B2%5D=czo0OiJ3cmFwIjtzOjM3OiI8YSBocmVmPSJqYXZhc2NyaXB0OmNsb3NlKCk7Ij4g¶meters%5B3%5D=fCA8L2E%2BIjt9>
*Eds: GOFC-GOLD & GEO BON. Report version UNCBD COP-13, GOFC-GOLD Land
Cover Project Office, Wageningen University, The Netherlands. ISSN:
2542-6729*
There is a growing need for better information on how remote sensing data
can support biodiversity monitoring in tropical forests. In response to
this need a new sourcebook has been published with the aim of informing
national and sub-national policy and decisions.
More than 70 authors, several of them from the IUFRO community, contributed
to the sourcebook that is targeted at project managers, academic
institutions, NGOs, students and researchers, among others, with a
background in remote sensing.
The emphasis is on tropical forests because, in the words of Dr. Brice Mora
of Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands who was the primary
force in developing the sourcebook, "tropical forests constitute a major
hub of evolution, life and diversity on our planet, but are also among the
most threatened ecosystems by human activities."
Deforestation remains high in the world's tropical forests, largely because
of dependence on land-based economic activities such as palm oil production
or small scale slash and burn farming and also from continuing pressure
from industrial crops.
"Project managers and policy makers who are not experts in remote sensing
will find background information on the policy context to which the remote
sensing datasets and techniques aim to provide support," said Dr. Mora.
"However, the implementation and-or adaptation of the methods presented
will require specialized knowledge.
"That being said, the sourcebook provides non-specialists with an
opportunity to understand how such technology can support biodiversity
conservation policies and help target planning," he added.
This publication will allow forest managers and other interested
stakeholders to find information on how remote sensing techniques can
support the development of relevant essential biodiversity variables (EBVs)
for tropical forest management.
EBVs are proposed by the GEO BON (Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity
Observation Network) for the study, reporting and management of
biodiversity change.
The EBVs are important because they will provide global-scale, consistent
core information to monitor biodiversity trends and thus allow more
targeted actions to halt biodiversity loss and achieve the 2020 targets on
the UN Convention on Biodiversity (UNCBD).
Among subjects discussed in the book are general steps for relevant EBV
production, including the type of datasets and main processing steps; how
synergies between biodiversity monitoring and carbon emission mitigation
can be made both at institutional and technical levels; and how local
communities can be integrated in monitoring activities. For countries newly
engaged in biodiversity loss mitigation there is a chapter on existing
regional biodiversity networks in the pan-tropical region and guidelines on
how to develop new networks.
The major challenge in developing the sourcebook was "identifying
contributors with both the expertise and time to undertake the initiative
on a voluntary basis, and then coordinating their efforts in a way that
allowed the development and review of the chapters in a timely manner" said
Dr. Sandra Luque, Research Director at IRSTEA (National Research Institute
of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture), France, and
Deputy Coordinator of IUFRO Division 8 Forest Environment. She worked with
Dr. Mora pulling the project together.
Dr. Luque went on to say "the emerging technologies presented as well as
the list of available Earth observation datasets constitute a unique
updated source of reference for forest remote sensing applications and for
the forest research community and associated stakeholders."
The publication – *A Sourcebook of Methods and Procedures for Monitoring
Essential Biodiversity Variables in Tropical Forests with Remote Sensing* –
is available at no cost at the websites of:
GOFC-GOLD Land Cover (http://www.gofcgold.wur.nl/sites/gofcgold-geobon_
biodiversitysourcebook.php)
and GEO BON (http://geobon.org/
<http://geobon.org/a-sourcebook-of-methods-and-procedures-for-monitoring-essential-biodiversity-variables-in-tropical-forests-with-remote-sensing/>)
*________________________________*
The findings reported in *IUFRO Spotlight* are submitted by IUFRO
officeholders and member organizations. IUFRO is pleased to highlight and
circulate these findings to a broad audience but, in doing so, acts only as
a conduit. The quality and accuracy of the reports are the responsibility
of the member organization and the authors.
Suggestions for reports and findings that could be promoted through *IUFRO
Spotlight* are encouraged. To be considered, reports should be fresh, have
policy implications and be applicable to more than one country. If you
would like to have a publication highlighted by Spotlight, *contact: Gerda
Wolfrum, IUFRO Communications Coordinator, wolfrum(at)iufro.org
<http://iufro.org>*.
The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) is the
only worldwide organization devoted to forest research and related
sciences. Its members are research institutions, universities, and
individual scientists as well as decision-making authorities and other
stakeholders with a focus on forests and trees.
Visit: http://www.iufro.org/
*________________________________*
*IUFRO Spotlight #45, published in April 2017by IUFRO Headquarters, Vienna,
Austria.Available for download at:
**http://www.iufro.org/media/iufro-spotlights/
<http://www.iufro.org/media/iufro-spotlights/>*
*Contact the editor at office(at)iufro.org <office(a)iufro.org> or visit
http://www.iufro.org/ <http://www.iufro.org/index.php?id=104>*
If you do not wish to receive *IUFRO Spotlight* publications, please email
us at: office(at)iufro.org <office(a)iufro.org>
*Imprint: http://www.iufro.org/legal/#c18944
<http://www.iufro.org/legal/#c18944>*
