OSFAC Presentation Dr Landing Mane OSFAC Building Capacity

OSFAC Presentation Dr. Landing Mane, OSFAC

Building Capacity in Central Africa for Satellite Based Forest Cover Monitoring Applications at Local to Regional Scales Dr. Landing Mane, Director, OSFAC The Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale is a legally recognized non-governmental organization in the Democratic Republic of Congo that operates with a regional mandate to promote the use of satellite data and products for the management of natural resources and sustainable development. http: //osfac. net OSFAC and collaborators Alice Altstatt, Brian Barker, Bob Baseko, Eddy Bongwele, Jean. Robert Bwangoy, Florence Bwebwe, Brice Cherubins, Diane Davies, Matt Hansen, Chris Justice, Patrick Lola, Eric Lutete, Raymond Lumbuenamo, Landing Mane, Paya de. Marcken, Andre Mazinga, Confiance Mfuka, Giuseppe Molinario, Yolande Munzimi, Janet Nackoney, Marcelline Ngomba, Peter Potapov, Cedric Singa, Ifo Suspense, Pierre Vincent, Minnie Wong

Historical constraints to establishing operational satellite based forest monitoring and mapping in Central Africa Establishment of OSFAC at the GOFC-GOLD Regional Workshop Libreville, Gabon 2000 1. Lack of satellite data archiving due to a. Persistent cloud cover b. No permanent ground receiving station c. Few projects requesting data 2. Prohibitive data cost 3. Lack of internet capacity to receive and disseminate satellite data 4. Lack of personnel trained in satellite data use and lack of institutional training structures 5. Lack of financial resources to invest in capacity building Central Africa contains the second largest are of tropical forest in the world but lacks reliable and updated information on the state and changes being made to forest cover. Operational forest monitoring is required for sustainable forest resource management, biodiversity conservation and carbon tracking. Remote sensing is an essential tool for monitoring and mapping these vast and often inaccessible forests. Derived products are useful at regional, national and local scales. Remote sensing monitoring must be supported with ground based observations and in-situ forest inventory data. The Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale, OSFAC, was established as a GOFC-GOLD network to address the constraints on regional satellite based forest cover monitoring identified at the 2000 Libreville workshop GOFC-GOLD (Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics) strives to improve the quality and availability of observations of forests and land cover. MODIS Forest Cover

Data Dissemination To compensate for poor internet connection in Central Africa, OSFAC archives satellite data in the recently developed Data Management Tool and distributes via DVD by request. • Landsat TM and ETM+ (1970 – 2009): ~5000 scenes • ASTER (2000 -2008): ~2600 scenes • SRTM (2000): ~600 granules • Derived products The Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale A GOFC-GOLD (Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics) network for Central Africa Objectives: 1. Promote the use of satellite data and products for the management of natural resources and sustainable development in Central Africa 2. Improve the quality and availability of satellite observations of forest and land cover in the Congo Basin 3. Produce useful and timely informational products for a wide variety of users In Country Capacity Building for Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing Services: 1. Provide GIS and remote sensing services to NGO’s, agencies and projects 2. Provide remote sensing and GIS training to build regional technical capacity 3. Archive and disseminate remote sensing data, products and environmental data for Central Africa 4. Provide technical support for the State of the Forest Reports and COMIFAC OSFAC has trained hundreds of professionals and students from over 50 agencies and institutions and organized over 50 training sessions. Special effort is made to provided training to CARPE partners and to natural resource managers and other environmental specialists within government institutions. OSFAC maintains a GIS/RS training laboratory in the Department of Agronomy at the University of Kinshasa. OSFAC provides training in geospatial data collection (GPS), computer cartography, geospatial analysis, deriving thematic information from satellite images and related topics. GIS and Remote Sensing Technical support

The Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale A GOFC-GOLD (Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics) network for Central Africa Objectives: 1. Promote the use of satellite data and products for the management of natural resources and sustainable development in Central Africa 2. Improve the quality and availability of satellite observations of forest and land cover in the Congo Basin 3. Produce useful and timely informational products for a wide variety of users Services: 1. Provide GIS and remote sensing services to NGO’s, agencies and projects 2. Provide remote sensing and GIS training to build regional technical capacity 3. Archive and disseminate remote sensing data, products and environmental data for Central Africa 4. Provide technical support for the State of the Forest Reports and COMIFAC Forest Cover Monitoring Forêts d'Afrique Centrale Évaluées par Télédétection (FACET) quantitatively evaluates the spatiotemporal dynamics of forest change in Central Africa through the use of multi-temporal satellite data. A FACET Atlas has been created for Democratic Republic of Congo and an atlas for the Republic of Congo is currently underway.

Establishing Operational Satellite Forest Cover Monitoring through CARPE MODIS Top of Canopy (TOC) Reflectance Challenges: An Operational Monitoring System: • Must provide products that are comparable across the Congo Basin and which can be applied at a range of scales and for a variety of purposes. • Should provide products that are easy to use and interpret • Requires a method that produces consistent results through time and that generates monitoring products at useful intervals. • Requires a reliable, affordable satellite data stream and low data processing costs • Must accommodate the intensive data needs over Central Africa to overcome persistent cloud cover Achievements: • Development of an automated forest monitoring and mapping methodology • Synoptic regional forest cover and change mapping that is consistent , repeatable and useful at multiple scales • Products and maps that are immediately publicly available • Process incorporates freely available MODIS and Landsat data - both are long standing, continuous US Earth Observation missions • Full exploitation of the 2008 Landsat Data Distribution Policy by exhaustively mining the Landsat data archive to capture the best cloud free single pixel observations from any scene a. Typical best single Landsat images. b. Composited data from multiple images, corrected for atmosphere and illumination effects c. Per pixel count of cloud free observations for Republic of Congo d. Corresponding composite e. Final land cover and change thematic map for Republic of Congo 2000 -2010

The land use planning process depicted here uses satellite data and GIS technologies to describe observed land use trends. This information is brought to the local communities as part of a participatory process for delineating zones for future land use. These zones can include agriculture, community based natural resource management areas , protected areas and extractive resource zones. Effective land use plans should be designed with the local community and formally recognized by provincial and national governments. Participatory Land Use Planning and Zoning at the Macro and Micro Levels African Wildlife Foundation Maringa-Lopori-Wamba Landscape Planning and Sustainable Opportunities for Improved Livelihoods Why do we need integrated land use planning in the landscapes? 1. Address local development needs, including agricultural expansion and intensification, and support sustainable natural resources management. 2. Provide recognition of local communities and indigenous peoples traditional land use rights. 3. Support biodiversity conservation, e. g. , through protected area networks, and maintain important landscape scale ecosystem services such as clean water and carbon sequestration. Land Use Planning Process 1. Use satellite derived land cover and GIS to map current land use. 2. Geospatial modeling of high priority conservation areas and areas of high human presence. 4. Engagement with local community to describe and prioritize activities in permanent and non-permanent forest areas according to livelihood and conservation needs. 5. Participatory mapping to delineate agricultural boundaries and micro‐zones according to livelihood. 6. Community adoption of local land use planning map. SOIL site

Field based activities Field Data Collection • Validation of remote sensing based maps Training of field teams for CARPE partners and other organizations • Participatory mapping, data collection with GPS and household surveys • Forest inventory data for carbon, biomass and REDD related projects