GMES Service Element for Forest Monitoring: REDD Pilot Projects

Global Monitoring for the Environment and Security (GMES), is a joint initiative of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission (EC). The GMES Service Element on Forest Monitoring (GSE FM) which has been led by GAF AG since 2003 has aimed at providing operational forest services to the forest user community by including them in the design and implementation of the services. One of the main policy segments that the GSE FM supports is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its related Kyoto Protocol. Since 2006, GSE FM became involved in the post-Kyoto Protocol policy process "Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation" (REDD) in developing countries.  Thus a REDD Pilot Project was initiated in Cameroon in 2007, with stakeholder endorsement and financing from ESA, the German Development Bank-KfW and GTZ. The REDD service for Cameroon offered important deforestation assessment information for the country based on forest maps for 1990, 2000 and 2005/6 using national (wall-to-wall) EO data coverage; furthermore methods for undertaking a national biomass inventory were developed and capacity building/technology transfer to the counterparts was undertaken. These achievements permitted the GSE FM to develop additional REDD Pilot Projects in the Congo Basin region. In December 2009 the European Space Agency (ESA) awarded GAF AG and its partners, a contract to implement GSE FM REDD services in the Republic of Congo and Gabon. The GSE FM REDD Service Portfolio encompasses the following:

• Stakeholder Analysis: Identification of stakeholder needs in terms of specific policy drivers, working practices and decision making cycles as well as the technical specifications for reporting
• Implementation framework for REDD: support to develop institutional frameworks for REDD at a national level
• Reference scenarios/Estimating deforestation: remote sensing analysis which will provide forest area maps and forest cover change maps applicable for a national REDD scenario.
• Technology Transfer/Capacity Building to the country: programmes to ensure that project methodologies and results are provided to the national and regional counterparts

Results of these activities will support the countries with their international negotiations in the UNFCCC policy development process.