This harmonization workshop was held in the
Indian
Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Dehradun, India, from 4 to
8 December, 2006.
It was organized by GLCN and by the MAR (“Strengthening Monitoring,
Assessment, and Reporting on Sustainable Forest Management in Asia”) project
of the FAO,
with the logistic support of the FAO Representative for India,
the technical support of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), the
Istituto
Agronomico per l'Oltremare (IAO) and the
National
Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), and with the financial support of the
Governments of Italy, the Netherlands and Japan.
Countries
The workshop was intended for technical individuals from national
institutes involved in land cover mapping. Workshop's participants
were envited from the following countries:
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam,
Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, DPR Korea, Laos, Maldives,
Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan (to be confirmed),
Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste
and Vietnam
Goals
The scope of the meeting was to review the forest classifications in
Asia Pacific countries and initiate discussion and dialogue on their
harmonization/standardization. The workshop provided training to
land mapping experts, especially forestry professionals dealing directly
with remote sensing based estimation of forest cover and or national
forest inventories, in use of the GLCN technologies including the
Land Cover Classification System (LCCS).
The purpose of the training was to assist in harmonizing and
standardizing the estimation of forest cover using remote sensing
among Asian countries. The benefits of LCCS in allowing standardization
of mapping legends was demonstrated and participants discussed
the generation of standard classes for FRA 2010. In addition the workshop
was also an opportunity to train participants on 2D/3D data visualization
techniques and information requirements of CBD 2010, like degradation
(change in density), deforestation and fragmentation (based on an
agreed LCCS classification).
Introduction to MAR Project
The MAR project (“Strengthening Monitoring, Assessment, and Reporting
(MAR) on Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in Asia”) is organised
in FAO Forestry Department in Rome. It is a five year project that
was launched in January 2006. It is funded by the Government of Japan
and technically and institutionally supported by FAO to contribute
directly to the improvement in the sustainable forest management (SFM)
regimes in the Asia Pacific region.
The project seeks to establish a functioning national network in each
project country. This network would consist of national focal points
to various forest related national, regional and international processes.
It attempts to institutionalise the process of co-ordination,
standardization and harmonization of the national MAR system by promoting
frequent technical dialogue among various stakeholders. The project
aims to reduce the reporting burden on countries and build up more precise,
consistent, and useful national information on forests It plans to
organise expert consultations, training workshops and thematic studies
at national and regional level to achieve its objectives. The project
also aims to enhance efficiency and use of MAR information for better
decision-making and formulation of forest policies and planning at the
national level.
OUTCOMES
Documents
Initiatives
- Software and Data Distribution
