G T O S Global Terrestrial Observing System

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G T O SGlobal Terrestrial Observing System

• 3rd GTN-H Coordination Panel Meeting
• Koblenz 17-19 September 2007

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Overview of presentation

• GTOS mission
• Organizational structure
• Overview of activities
• Specific developments
• Other issues

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GTOS Creation

• The 1992 Rio Summit, along with other
  international ecology conventions, reinforced the
  need for specific, reliable international data on
  environmental conditions and trends
• In 1996, four United Nations bodies and an
  international scientific community created the
  Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) to
  help confront this challenge

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Unprecedented ecosystem change
Over the past 50 years, humans have changed
ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in
comparable period time in human history

• Approximately 60 (15 out of 24) of ecosystem
  services evaluated being degraded or used
  unsustainably
• More land converted to cropland since 1945 than
  in 18th, 19th centuries combined
• Coral reefs reduced by 20 and a further 20
  degraded in last decades
• Mangrove area reduced by 35 in last decades
• Water in reservoirs quadrupled since1960
• Withdrawals from rivers and lakes doubled since
  1960
• Biological nitrogen flows in terrestrial
  ecosystems doubled since 1960 phosphorus flows
  tripled

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GTOS Mission

• To provide policy-makers, resource managers and
  researchers with access to the data and
  information they need to detect, quantify,
  locate, and warn of changes (especially
  reductions) in the capacity of terrestrial
  ecosystems to support sustainable development.

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Key Issues

• Changes in land quality
• Availability of freshwater resources
• Loss of biodiversity
• Climate change
• Impacts of pollution and toxicity

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GTOS Organization

• Steering Committee
• Chair Berrien Moore
• Members
• Extended and revived
• Sponsor representatives
• Jeff TSCHIRLEY (FAO)
• Thomas ROSSWALL (ICSU)
• Norberto FERNANDEZ (UNEP)
• Mario HERNANDEZ (UNESCO)
• Buruhani NYENZI (WMO)
• Programme Director John LATHAM
• Secretariat Staff 1 programme Director, 1
  professional programme officers, 1 support
  consultants, 2 support staff, up to 4 volunteers
• Panels and activities Science teams working on
  core mission areas
• Secretariat hosted at FAO HQ, Rome Italy

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International Framework and Sister Organizations
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Delivery through panels and activities
Panels are run on a voluntary basis
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Terrestrial Observing Panel for Climate (TOPC)

• Focuses on the identification of terrestrial
  observation requirements, assisting the
  establishment of observing networks for climate,
  providing guidance on observation standards and
  norms, facilitating access to climate data and
  information and its assimilation, and promoting
  climate studies and assessments.

http//www.fao.org/gtos/TOPC.html
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Terrestrial Observing Panel for Climate (TOPC)

• Developments
• New Panel formation Han Dolman (TOPC Chair),
  Anatoli Brouchkov, Jay Famiglietti, Wilfried
  Haeberli, Gen Inoue, Ulrich Looser, Jan Polcher,
  Shaun Quegan, Michel Verstraete, Valery
  Vuglinsky.
• First TOPC meeting planned for the end of 2007.
• Priorities remain assisting GCOS and GTOS in the
  execution of the GCOS Implementation Plan,
  development of the next adequacy report and
  preparation of material on status of the
  development of standards for each of the
  essential climate variables in the terrestrial
  domain.

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TCO Terrestrial Carbon Observations

• TCO MISSION
• 1- Identify the potential users and the required
  data and scale.
• 2- Collect, organize, harmonize and coordinate
  carbon data and models (from local to regional
  and global scale) considering
• in situ data
• remote sensing data
• terrestrial ecosystems data.
• 3- Link among science, policy and end users.

TCO New Implementation Plan 1- Coordination of
the carbon observations system 2- Use and
synthesis of data and methodological
development 3- Capacity building 4- Links to the
Conventions
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CARBOAFRICA a new way for funding
EUfunded project (STREP - 6FP) Priority Global
Change and Ecosystems Coordinator University of
Tuscia 15 International Institutions (11
European, 3 African, FAO) Funds 2.8 M Duration
3 years
Quantification, understanding and prediction of
carbon cycle, and other GHG gases, in Sub-Saharan
Africa.
The overarching goal is to set up a first attempt
of a GHGs fluxes monitoring network of Africa, in
order to quantify, understand and predict, by a
multi-disciplinary integrated approach, GHG
emissions in Sub-Saharan Africa and its
associated spatial and temporal variability.
CARBOAFRICA
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CARBOAFRICA NETWORK
16 2 flux towers 2 atmospheric
stations Airborne campaigns
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Forest Land Cover Dynamics GOFC-GOLD

• To improve the quality and availability of
  space-based and in situ observations of forests
  at regional and global scales and to produce
  useful, timely and validated information products
  from these data for a wide variety of users.

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GOFC-GOLD activities

• Fire mapping and monitoring
• Land Cover Characteristics and Change
• Regional activities for the above
• Support to terrestrial ECVs activities
• Validation of satellite products
• Participation on GEOSS tasks
• Support to LCCS

http//www.fao.org/gtos/gofc-gold/index.html
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Coastal GTOS (C-GTOS)
To detect, assess and predict global and
large-scale regional change associated with
land-based, wetland and freshwater (and when
appropriate transitional waters) ecosystems
along coasts.
C-GTOS Implementation plan http//www.fao.org/gtos
/pubs.html
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C-GTOS activities

• Activities
• Coastal module created in TEMS including linkages
  with the GCMD
• Development of vulnerability of ecosystem
  services in deltaic systems
• Management of conservation and cultural sites in
  the coastal zone
• Distribution of sites appropriate for analyses of
  delivery systems
• Distribution and the rate of change of
  population, urbanization and land use in the
  coastal environment
• Contribution to a mangroves atlas
• Link with different environmental conventions

• Advance the development of the initial coastal
  products

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• Advance the development of the initial coastal
  products

C-GTOS

• Activities
• Coastal module created in TEMS including linkages
  with the GCMD
• Development of vulnerability of ecosystem
  services in deltaic systems
• Management of conservation and cultural sites in
  the coastal zone
• Distribution of sites appropriate for analyses of
  delivery systems
• Distribution and the rate of change of
  population, urbanization and land use in the
  coastal environment
• Contribution to a mangroves atlas
• Link with different environmental conventions

A joint initiative of FAO, the International
Society for Mangrove Ecosystems (ISME), and other
international institutions to prepare the 2nd
edition of the World Atlas of Mangroves.31
countries are being mapped through a photo
interpretation of satellite imageries at
1250,000 scale. The final product will be
produced at a scale of 1500,000.
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• Expand the TEMS database, including additional
  ecosystem types, global change monitoring data
  and metadata services.

www.fao.org/gtos/tems

• Who, what, where
• 2040 monitoring sites
• 40 networks
• 1200 contact persons
• 120 environmental variables and 60 socio-economic
  indicators (with description sheets)
• Interactive Maps
• Thematic modules related to biodiversity, coastal
  zones, forest, hydrology and mountain.
• Local Climate Estimates, Geology, Pedology and
  Hydrology data.

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TEMS activities
www.fao.org/gtos/tems

• TEMS improvements
• New digital Terrain Model data available for each
  T-site (100km2) (3D image will include Landsat
  ETM) Landsat TM, MSS and Land Cover will also be
  extracted
• GOSIC data matrix, MAB cooperation, network links
• New sites, networks and modules
• New 5 year strategy

• Output 3.1 Expand the TEMS database, including
  additional ecosystem types, global change
  monitoring data and metadata services.

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• Develop, submit, have approved and print a IGOS
  land theme report.

http//www.fao.org/gtos/igol/

• Objective of IGOS land
• Seeks to provide a comprehensive framework to
  harmonize the common interests of the major
  space-based and in-situ systems for global
  observation of the Earth.

• Land theme of IGOS
• IGOL design activities that will provide a
  comprehensive picture of the present state of
  terrestrial ecosystems, and build capacity for
  long-term monitoring of those ecosystems.

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• Develop, submit, have approved and print a IGOS
  land theme report.

http//www.fao.org/gtos/igol/

• Achievements
• Theme Team of experts established.
• Following meetings organized
• 1st IGOL theme team meeting, Rome, Sept. 2004
• 2nd IGOL meeting, Reston, USA, July 2005
• 3rd IGOL meeting, Beijing, Feb 2006
• IGOL Biodiversity meeting, Washington DC, Nov
  2005
• IGOL Agriculture meeting, Rome, March 2006
• IGOL GEO Ag monitoring meeting, Rome, July 2007
• Draft IGOL report developed out for review
• Biodiversity and Agriculture reports developed
  for GEOSS
• Proposed IGOL transitioning paper submitted to
  IGOS

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Fire Information for Resource Management System
FIRMS
transitioning from a research to an operational
system with an emphasis on protected areas
Scope

• Integrates remote sensing and GIS technologies to
  deliver MODIS active fire locations to natural
  resource managers around the world.
• Real time data on fires in our around protected
  areas.
• Data provided is in easy-to-use formats.

Services and products

• Fire alerts through e-mails and cell phone text
  messages.
• Active fire info via an interactive Web Mapping
  interface.
• Provision of shape files containing locations of
  latest fires detected.
• Provision of subsets of MODIS imagery.

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FIRMS main components
SMS Alert System
The use of near real-time fire notifications (by
cell phone text messaging) in South Africa has
also generated a lot of interest and requests
have been received to expand this service to
other regions.
To promote the widest possible use, open
consensus standards delineated by ISO, Federal
Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) and the Open GIS
Consortium (OGC) will be adopted.
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Fire Information for Resource Management System
FIRMS
transitioning from a research to an operational
system with an emphasis on protected areas
Current status and next steps

• Prototypes (e.g. in South Africa and other
  African countries have been very successful.
• NASA, FAO and UNEP supporting the transition to a
  fully operational global system.
• The system will be housed at FAO.
• UNEP will integrate FIRMS in their current fire
  decision support system.
• Additional specifications will be added, e.g. 5,
  10, 15 km buffer zones of protected areas.
• additional data, gis layers, imagery form
  alternative systems.
• improved data queries and provision.
• Feedback mechanisms for managers and other users.
• Product validation and verification.
• Document best practices of fire managers -gt share
  data and findings

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• GEO and GEOSS activities

www.fao.org/gtos/tems

• GTOS contribution to the 2007-2009 GEO tasks
• 17 Tasks (4 lead) 14 old continuing tasks 3
  new tasks derived from old ones
• The GTOS secretariat is currently revising the
  new GEO tasks included in the GEO 2007-2009 Work
  Plan in order to decide which task is relevant to
  GTOS and its panels, and the level of
  involvement.
• Key tasks leaded by GTOS
• CL-06-03 Key Terrestrial Observations for
  Climate
• DA-07-02 Global Land Cover
• AG-06-04 Forest Mapping and Change Monitoring
• Problem
• GEO/GEOSS process causing considerable strain to
  financial and human resources

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• GEO and GEOSS activities

www.fao.org/gtos/tems

• Main Tasks relevant to GOFC-GOLD
• AG-06-04 Forest Mapping and Change Monitoring
• DA-07-02 Global Land Cover
• DA-07-03 Virtual Constellations
• DI-06-13 Implementation of a Fire Warning System
  at Global Level
• EC-06-07 Regional Networks for Ecosystems
• Task relevant to TOPC
• CL-06-03 Key Terrestrial Observations for
  Climate
• CL-06-05 GEOSS IPY Contribution
• Task relevant to TCO
• EC-06-01 - Integrated Global Carbon Observation
  (IGCO)
• AG-06-04 - Forest Mapping and Change Monitoring
• CL-06-03 - Key Terrestrial Observations for
  Climate

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• Assist the CBD towards the achievement of the
  2010 Target.

• Activities
• Work closely with CBD Secretariat to identify
  relevant GTOS tools, products and services, and
  make these available to the Parties of the
  Convention.

• Survey on needs and requirements of CBD State
  Parties in order to identify the GTOS products
  and services to assess issues related to habitat
  loss.
• Elaboration of targeted outreach material
  relevant to the Delegates to CBD, Ramsar, CMS and
  CITES.
• Raising awareness at Ramsar, CMS and CBD
  meetings.

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• Support the work of the UNCCD, with emphasis on
  capacity building and scientific/technical
  cooperation amongst the Parties.

• Activities
• Collaborate closely with the UNCCD Secretariat,
  CST, and in particular with the CRIC to identify
  relevant GTOS tools, products and services.
  Develop training modules specific to the
  collection, analysis and exchange of land
  degradation in collaboration with GLCN and other
  specialized centres.

• Survey on needs and requirements of UNCCD State
  Parties
• Elaboration of targeted outreach material
  relevant to Delegates to UNCCD statutory meetings
  (e.g. posters. brochures, CD-ROMs, reports)
• Survey on capacity-building and training
  requirements in affected African countries in
  order to develop training workshop modules
  relevant to monitoring trends (and reporting) in
  land degradation.

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• Execution of the GCOS Implementation Plan in
  support of the UNFCCC

• Activities
• Through its TOPC Panel assist in the preparation
  of guidance materials, standards and reporting
  guidelines for terrestrial observing systems for
  climate, and associated products and assess the
  status of the development of standards for each
  of the essential climate variables in the
  terrestrial domain.

• Terrestrial Essential
• Climate Variables
• Snow-cover
• Glaciers and ice caps
• Permafrost layer
• River discharge
• Water use
• Groundwater
• Lake levels
• Albedo
• FAPAR
• Active radiation
• Leaf Area Index
• Surface Temperature
• Fire disturbance
• Land Cover
• Biomass

• Report developed and submitted.
• SBSTA requested GTOS to further develop frame
  work and standards for terrestrial ECVs
• Progress reports to be submitted at SBSTA 26 (May
  2007)
• SBSTA 26 welcomed GTOS inputs, requested
  framework and ECV analysis to be completed by
  SBSTA 27 (Dec 2007) to allow review and
  development of recommendations and next steps.

Activities are also recognized as an official
task of GEOSS (CL-06-03)
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• Execution of the GCOS Implementation Plan in
  support of the UNFCCC

Current activities

• Finalize framework report.
• Complete terrestrial ECV standards analysis and
  allow stakeholder review.
• Prepare terrestrial ECV supplement and biennial
  report for UNFCCC COP and SBSTA (Bali, December
  2007).
• Preparation of side event and booth at COP.
• Raising relevant stakeholder awareness and
  interest for terrestrial observations (hopefully
  leading to support the networks and activities
  required to undertake the observations).

• Your support required, go to
• www.fao.org/gtos/topcECV.html

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• GTOS Biennial Report

• For more details see the GTOS Biennial Report
• GEO
• IGOS
• GOFC-GOLD
• TOPC
• TCO
• C-GTOS
• TEMS
• Conventions
• Biodiversity
• Mountains

• GTN-G
• GTN-P
• GTN-H
• GTN-R
• NPP

New edition will be available in December
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Thank you
END