Martin Herold

1

• Suite of presentations
• GLOBCARBON
• Terrestrial ECVs
• GOFC-GOLD land cover team activities

• Martin Herold
• GOFC-GOLD project office
• Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany

www.fao.org/gtos/gofc-gold www.gofc-gold.uni-jena.
de
Global Observations of Forest Cover and Land
Dynamics
2
THE GLOBCARBON INITIATIVE Multi-sensor
estimation of global biophysical products for
global terrestrial carbon studies
Stephen Plummer (IGBP_at_ESA), Olivier Arino (ESA),
Franck Ranera (SERCO) ESL Jing Chen (U.
Toronto), Muriel Simon (SERCO), Gerard Dedieu
(CESBIO), Kevin Tansey (Univ. Leicester), Luigi
Boschetti (CNR), H. Eva (JRC) and VITO
Consortium (Geert Borstlap, Walter Heyns,
Riccardo Benedetti et al)
GLOBCARBON is a ESA Data User Programme Project
being executed by a Belgo-Italian consortium led
by VITO
3
Carbon Data Assimilation
To feed in to this Earth observation must deliver
long time series estimates of global vegetation
behaviour.
4
GLOBCARBON Motivation
GLOBCARBON was the ESA response to the following
needs

• Absence of European Level 2 product lines on
  biophysical variables to supplement those from US
  counterparts (MODIS)

• Under-utilisation of the European archive of
  VIS-NIR satellite observations (VEGETATION,
  ATSR-AATSR, MERIS)

• The need from the modelling community for global
  products to test, constrain and develop models of
  vegetation behaviour

• The need, as demonstrated from the production of
  burned area in GBA-2000 and GLOBSCAR products,
  for multi-annual global observations

• The need for consistency and coordination within
  Europe of independent efforts for production of
  biophysical variables (e.g. GLOBSCAR v GBA-2000)

5
The Champion Users
Four key research institutes, one GMES project
and one key programme involved to specify needs
and use products
6
General User Needs
For Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamic Global
Vegetation Models

• There is a particular need for information on
  vegetation amount (ideally biomass or leaf area
  index), area burned, and vegetation temporal
  variability.

• These should be global, in a consistent format,
  and all data products should be available from
  one place.

• Consistency is more important than outright
  accuracy (within limits).

• The products should be multi-annual with 5 years
  being the minimum but incorporating both average
  and extreme conditions e.g. El Ninõ.

• Products should come with spatial heterogeneity
  information ideally at the highest available
  resolution.

• The spatial resolution requirements are 0.5,
  0.25 and 10km.

• The temporal resolution initially on a time step
  of 1 month but better higher, possibly bi-weekly.

7
Objectives

• develop a service quasi-independent of the
  original Earth Observation source.
• focus on a system to estimate
• Burned area
• fAPAR and LAI
• Vegetation growth cycle
• cover several complete years 1998 to 2007
• cover VEGETATION, ATSR-2, ENVISAT (AATSR, MERIS)
• be applicable to existing archives and future
  satellite systems
• be available at resolutions of 1km, 10km, ¼ and ½
  degree with statistics
• build on the existing research experience

8
Africa 1998-1999 BAE
9
GLOBCARBON Angola 1999 BAE
10
Africa 2002 BAE
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
11
Portugal 2003
12
BAE Temporal Variation
Temporal variation in continental burning
13
BAE Validation
14
MODIS Comparison 1 km
MODIS
GLOBCARBON
July 2000
15
Vegetation products

• LAI
• Daily values from each sensor used to generate
  monthly mean at 1km (also decadal for smoothing)
• Results are provided as smoothed monthly LAI,
  original monthly mean LAI, Standard Deviation for
  each, Number of valid values for each sensor,
  Replaced values in smoothing (10-20 different)
  and associated flags
• Results at 1 km merged to give mean LAI
  (smoothed) at 10km, 0.25 and 0.5 degrees with
  spatial standard deviation
• Fapar
• Instantaneous FAPAR values derived from each
  instrument Surface Reflectance but using the
  smoothed LAI values from all sensors
• SZA, VZA, AAD, status map (snow, cloud, cloud
  shadow) and flags provided as fields
• Low resolution data provided as spatial means of
  above fields

16
GLOBCARBON Leaf Area Index
are functions defining the relationships between
SR and RSR at a specific view and sun angle
combinations expressed as Chebyshev polynomials
derived from model runs using a modified
Roujeans model
The true LAI is then estimated according to the
effective LAI and a clumping index.
The data are then filtered to produce a smooth
trend in LAI consistent with the expected growth
cycle using 54 decades of LAI estimates. The
smoothing process is accomplished using the
locally weighted regression method LOESS
(3)
17
GLOBCARBON Leaf Area Index
Deng, F., Chen, J.M., Plummer, S.E. Chen, M. and
Pisek, J., 2006, Algorithm for global leaf area
index retrieval using satellite imagery, IEEE
Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing,
44(8), 2219-2229.
www.globcarbon.info
18
Key Documents
19
GLOBCARBON Users
20
Usage statistics
Total Downloads per products
21
Papers
Stephen Plummer, Olivier Arino, Muriel Simon and
Will Steffen, 2006, Establishing a Earth
Observation Product Service for the Terrestrial
Carbon Community The GLOBCARBON Initiative,
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global
Change (MITI), 11, 97-111. Feng Deng, Jing M.
Chen, Stephen Plummer, Mingzhen Chen and Jan
Pisek, 2006, Algorithm for Global Leaf Area Index
(LAI) Retrieval Using Satellite Imagery, IEEE
Trans. Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 44, 8,
2219-2229 Jing M. Chen, Feng Deng and Mingzhen
Chen, 2006, Locally Adjusted Cubic-Spline
Capping for Reconstructing Seasonal Trajectories
of a Satellite-Derived Surface Parameter, IEEE
Trans. Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 44, 8,
2230-2238 Stephen Plummer, 2008, The GLOBCARBON
cloud detection system for the Along Track
Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) sensor series, IEEE
Trans. Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 46, 6,
1718-1727 Garrigues, S., Lacaze, R., Baret , F.,
Morisette , J.T., Weiss, M., Nickeson, J.,
Fernandes, R., Plummer, S., Shabanov, N.V.,
Myneni, R., Yang, W., submiited, Validation and
Intercomparison of Global Leaf Area Index
Products Derived From Remote Sensing Data,
Journal Geophysical Research, 113, G02028,
doi10.1029/2007JG000635. Stephen Plummer,
Olivier Arino, Jing Chen, Gerard Dedieu, Hugh
Eva, Kevin Tansey, Martin De Kauwe, Tristan
Quaife, Ben Poulter, Martin Schultz, Mike
Raupach, Peter Briggs, Roselyne Lacaze, Sebastien
Garrigues, Peter Rayner, in preparation, The
GLOBCARBON Initiative Estimation of global land
biophysical products for terrestrial carbon
studies, Global Change Biology
22
Conclusions

• To feed in to the Global Carbon Project Earth
  observation must deliver long time series,
  consistent estimates of global vegetation
  behaviour complete with accuracy/quality figures.
• GLOBCARBON v2 has delivered 10 complete years
  (1998 to 2007) of global vegetation products to
  the DGVM and atmospheric chemistry modelling
  community at resolutions of ¼, ½ degree,10 km and
  1 km.
• GLOBCARBON v2 has been extensively tested against
  comparative products (MODIS, Cyclopes, Boston)
  and against HR data. The results are available in
  the Validation Report

www.globcarbon.info
23
Terrestrial Essential Climate Variables (ECV)
background and activities

• Martin Herold

24
UNFCCC and earth observations of land cover
25
Research and Systematic Observations

• Party commitments (Art. 4)
• All Parties shall promote and co-operate in
  scientific, technological, technical,
  socio-economic and other research, systematic
  observation
• Development of data archives related to the
  climate system
• Further the understanding and to reduce or
  eliminate the remaining uncertainties
• Research and Systematic Observations (Art. 5)
• Fully participate in the GCOS process (Essential
  Climate Variables)
• Inform about actions taken, innovations, and
  problems
• Standard reporting to synthesize information
• Support research and capacity building in
  developing countries

26
Background

• Implementation Plan of the Global Climate
  Observing System (2004) to the UNFCCC
• most comprehensive earth observation framework
  for implementing a UN Convention (research and
  systematic obsv.)
• Implementation tasks for 13 essential climate
  variables (ECVs)
• Albedo, Biomass, Fire, disturbance, Fraction of
  absorbed photosynthetically active radiation
  (FAPAR), Glaciers and ice caps, Ground water,
  Lake levels, Land cover (including vegetation
  type), Leaf area index, Permafrost and
  seasonally-frozen ground, River discharge, Snow
  cover, and Water use

27
Series of reports and responses
CEOS response 2006
GCOS-107 in 2006
GCOS-92 in 2004
GCOS-82 in 2003
CEOS IP for GEOSS in 2007
GEOSS 10-year plan in 2005
28
GTOS mandate

• UNFCCC/SBSTA, 2003
• GTOS to develop a framework for the preparation
  of guidance materials, standards and reporting
  guidelines for terrestrial observing systems (by
  Dec. 2005)
• UNFCCC/SBSTA, 2006
• GTOS to assess the status of the development of
  standards for each of the essential climate
  variables in the terrestrial domain (by May/Dec
  2007)
• Progress report submitted May 2007
• GTOS presented update at COP13, Dec.07
• FAO side event - GTOS harmonized terrestrial
  essential climatic variables for adaptation
• GTOS present ECV standard reports at COP14,
  Dec.08 in Poznan and full reports at SBSTA 30
  (June 2009)

29
ECV reports
www.fao.org/gtos
30
Observing Essential Climate Variables (ECVs)
31
Climate Change Initiative Rationale

• Europe is leading post-Kyoto negotiations
  2008-2009 (Bali-roadmap)
• Space Agencies have taken actions wrt UNFCCC
• Systematic observations / ECVs
• No dedicated funded programme exists
• Key European Asset EO Archives (ESA other)
• Opportunity to strengthen European role
• ESA in coordination with other Space Agencies
• International partners, Eumetsat
• High communication value for benefits of space
• DUE Global projects provide precursors

32
Some ECV monitoring issues

• Make best use of existing data record and ensure
  consistency and continuity in the long term
• Building a truly global monitoring system
• individual country contributions
• some diversity and redundancy is useful
• international cooperation and coordination is
  key
• Coordinated observations
• Integrated and standardized mapping and
  monitoring
• Independent quality assessment
• Focus on saliency, legitimacy and technical
  credibility
• Products and observations needs to be freely
  available
• Link among different ECV observation data and
  products

33

• Suite of presentations
• GLOBCARBON
• Terrestrial ECVs
• GOFC-GOLD land cover team activities

• Martin Herold
• GOFC-GOLD project office
• Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany

www.fao.org/gtos/gofc-gold www.gofc-gold.uni-jena.
de
Global Observations of Forest Cover and Land
Dynamics
34
Land Cover TeamCurrent Status and Activities
C. Woodcock, C. Schmullius M. Herold
35
What is GOFC-GOLD?

• A technical panel of the UN Global Terrestrial
  Observing System (GTOS)
• A coordinated international effort
• to ensure a continuous program of space-based and
  field forest observations for global monitoring
  of terrestrial resources
• A network of participants implementing
  coordinated research, demonstration and
  operational projects
• A vision to share data, information and knowledge
• GOFC-GOLD operates through
• Executive committee, Science and technical board
• Implementation teams and 3 project office (CA,
  US, Germany)
• Dedicated working groups
• 6 Regional networks

36
Background

• Global land cover monitoring, and issues of
  deforestation and land change prominent on the
  political agenda and driving observation progress
• GOFC-GOLD land cover implementation team
• Interfacing with political/policy level (GEO,
  UNFCCC)
• Synthesize requirements and provide technical
  responses
• Definition of observation strategies and
  implementation guidelines (international,
  independent expert panel)
• Foster continuity, consistency, and integration
  of observations
• Participation in global/regional monitoring
  activities
• Regional networking and capacity building

37
Land Cover Team
38
Land Cover Team Key Activities
UNFCCC GCOS Implementation Plan and ECV
Standards UNFCCC GOFC REDD working group IGOL
Integrated Global Observations for Land GEO Land
Cover / Forest Tasks Decadal Survey and CEOS LSI
Constellation Global Validation/Best Map
Effort Support for ongoing global land cover
mapping FAO FRA Activities (global remote sensing
survey) Support for regional networks / capacity
building Cooperation with national monitoring
programs Boreal Forest Monitoring
Activities Working with international scientific
networks (IGBP, NEESPI, GLP)
39
Essential Climate Variables (ECV) Background
and status for land cover
40
GCOS implementation plan actions for land cover

• Establish international standards (T22)
• UN Land Cover Classification System (LCCS)
  classifiers
• Methods for map accuracy assessment (T23)
• CEOS WGCV/GOFC-GOLD best practices report
• Continuity for fine-scale satellite observations
  (T24)
• Commitments to operate Landsat 8 (US) and
  Sentinel 2 (EU)
• Develop an in situ reference network (T25)
• Global operational validation implementation plan
• Annual global land-cover products (T26)
• Release (and continuation) of GLOBCOVER
• High-resolution global land cover change (T27)
• FAO/FRA 2010 global sampling GEO definition of
  specifications

41
Observing land cover as ECV

• Towards standardization of satellite derived
  products
• Coordinated observations
• Integrated and standardized mapping and
  monitoring
• Independent quality assessment

42
Land cover recommendations
high
Assuming observation continuity and consistency
IN-SITU ( IKONOS type) periodically (usually
1-10 yrs) Detailed physiognomy Floristics and
species distribution Land use i.e. crop
type/rotation Calibration and validation
Spatial detail
LANDSAT/SPOT type inter-annual (1-5
yrs) Vegetation physiognomy Land change
processes
Effort for frequent update
high
MODIS/MERIS (intra-)annual
pattern
Long-term trends
Land type/ Phenology
low
high
Thematic detail
43
Observing land cover as ECV
www.fao.org/gtos/
44
Activities of REDD working group
45
Earth observation contribution to UNFCCC-REDD
GOFC-GOLD working group est.
GTOS/GOFC report
1. 2. REDD Sourcebook draft
2nd GOFC-GOLD workshop
3rd GOFC-GOLD workshop
1st GOFC-GOLD workshop
ED/GOFC SBSTA side event
ESA/GOFC Side event booth
ESA/GOFC-GOLD side event
WINROCK/GOFC-GOLD side event
GTOS/GOFC-GOLD side event
PNG / GOFC-GOLD side event
GOFC-GOLD side event
GTOS submission II
GTOS submission I
GTOS submission III
COP11 Montreal
COP12 Nairobi
COP13 Bali
COP14 Poznan
SBSTA 24
SBSTA 26
SBSTA 28
COP15 Copenhagen
SBSTA 30
3rd SBSTA workshop
1st SBSTA workshop
2nd SBSTA workshop
Informal REDD workshop
Subm. of view by parties II
Subm. of view by parties III IV
Subm. of view by parties I
2005
2007
2008
2006
2009
46
Sourcebook version COP13.2
http//www.gofc-gold.uni-jena.de/redd
47
Sourcebook objectives

• to provide transparent methods that are designed
  to produce estimates of changes in forest area
  and carbon stocks from deforestation and
  degradation
• in a format that is user-friendly
• to complement the IPCC GPG-LULUCF (2003) and IPCC
  Guidelines-AFOLU (2006) by providing additional
  explanation, clarification and enhanced
  methodologies for obtaining and analyzing key
  data
• to support REDD early actions and readiness
  mechanisms on national level

48
New Table of Content

• INTRODUCTION
• 1.1 Purpose and Scope of the Sourcebook
• 1.2 Issues and Challenges
• 2. METHODOLOGICAL SECTION
• 2.1 Guidance on Monitoring of Changes in Forest
  Area
• Monitoring of changes of forest areas -
  deforestation and reforestation
• Monitoring of forest area changes within forests
• 2.2 Estimation of Carbon Stocks
• 2.3 Estimation of Soil Carbon stocks
• 2.4 Methods for estimating CO2 Emissions from D.
  D.
• 2.5 Methods for estimating GHGs Emissions from
  biomass burning
• 2.6 Estimation of uncertainties
• 2.7 Status of evolving technologies

49
New Table of Content
3. PRACTICAL EXAMPLES FOR DATA COLLECTION 3.1
Overview of annex-I national GHGs inventories on
LULUCF 3.2 Overview of existing forest area
changes monitoring systems 3.3 National forest
inventories 3.4 National carbon assessment
through carbon budget model 3.5 Data collection
at local / national level (communities) 4.
GUIDANCE ON REPORTING
50
http//unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/tp/01.pdf
51
Draft decision text for Copenhagen
52
Draft decision text for Copenhagen
53
Variability in capacities for REDD monitoring
Capacity gap
Larger Smaller

• Consideration of factors
• Requirements for monitoring forest carbon on
  national level (IPCC GPG)
• Existing national capacities for national forest
  monitoring
• Progress in national GHG inventory and engagement
  in REDD
• REDD particular characteristics importance of
  forest fires, soil carbon, deforestation rate
  etc.
• Specific technical challenges (remote sensing)
  cloud cover, seasonality, topography, remote
  sensing data availability and access procedures

54
Some technical challenges for remote sensing
Country coverage of Landsat 5 receiving stations
Mean annual cloud cover
Percent
Mean annual cloud free country coverage with SPOT
data 2006-08
Seasonality
Variability in cloud cover ()
Average internet download speed
Topography
Area with steep slopes ()
55
Current availability of fine-scale satellite data
sources and capacities for global land cover
change observations
(Note dark graycommon or fully applicable,
light graypartially applicable/several examples,
whiterare or no applications or examples)
56
GOFC-GOLD Regional Network Data Initiative

• Goals
• Disseminate US earth observation data in regions
  where available distribution methods are not
  effective
• Compile regional and in country data sets
  relevant to land cover and fire observations and
  make them freely available to the international
  community
• Engage regional expertise in global data set
  development, evaluation and validation
• Opportunity
• USGS to complete the orthorectified GLS 2005 data
  set and provide free access to Landsat 47
  archive
• New LC and LCC products using GLS data and use of
  Landsat data for validating global science
  results
• Growing MODIS record and availability of
  MODIS-based fire and LC/change products
• Approach -- GOFC-GOLD regional network structure
  will be used to establish regional nodes within
  the networks to
• disseminate data on media (DVD, Disk)
• encourage regional products to be developed using
  the data
• collect and document information on regional data
  sets and their availability within GOFC-GOLD
  thematic domain
• Pilot for Africa
• Involves 5 regional networks
• Network representatives to receive data and
  training over 3 weeks at USGS EDC and South
  Dakota State University (SDSU) in 2009
• Support provided by START partnership
  development with USGS, UNEP, SDSU

57
Contribution to GEO tasks
www.fao.org/gtos/gofc-gold www.gofc-gold.uni-jena.
de
Global Observations of Forest Cover and Land
Dynamics
58
GEO societal benefits and land cover observations
Water Water resources / quality Landwater use
pattern
Climate Land change GHG emis. Waterenergy
exchanges
Weather Landsurface climate int. Vegetation
characteristics
Ecosystems Change environment cond. Services
accounting
Energy Bio-energy/biomass Wind/hydro power assess.
Agriculture Cultivation patternforestry Land
degradations
Health Land change / disease vectors / boundary
cond.
Biodiversity Ecosystem characteristics Habitats
fragmentation
Disasters Fire monitoring Land degradation assess.
59
Relevant tasks in the GEO 2007-09 Work Plan

• DA-07-02 Land Cover (Data and Architecture)
• Provide a suite of global land cover datasets,
  initially based on improved and validated
  moderate resolution land cover maps and
  eventually including land-cover change at high
  resolution.
• Continuation of 2006 workplan task AG-06-03
• Hosted under Architecture and Data Committee
• Task lead US/USGS GOFC-GOLD

60
2006-2007 2008 2009
2010 2011
Global level
Strategies (IGOS) Integrated Global
Observations for land (IGOL)
Integration of IGOL into GEO
Standards LCCS land cover classifiers and
validation procedures Harmonization best
available map
Land cover as Essential Climate Variable
definition and implementation
New global products GLOBCOVER and MODIS5000
Continuity of observations Mid-decadal global
Landsat survey (MDGLS) Global Land
Survey 2010
Specifications for fine-scale global land cover
change dataset (incl. validation framework)
Technical guidance for UNFCCCC/REDD (GOFC-GOLD
sourcebook)
Capacity building and support of global
assessments GLCN GOFC-GOLD networks / FAO-FRA
global remote sensing survey
National level
GEO task DA-07-02
61
Global land cover validation activities

• Martin Herold (FSU Jena) Mark Friedl (UBoston)
• CEOS Cal/Val land subgroup (land cover)

With contributions from Curtis Woodcock
(UBoston), Olivier Arino (ESA), Pierre Defourny
(UCL), Steve Stehman (SUNY)
CEOS WGCV LPV Focus Group Lead Meeting, Missoula,
Montana, June 15, 2009
www.fao.org/gtos/gofc-gold www.gofc-gold.uni-jena.
de
Global Observations of Forest Cover and Land
Dynamics
62
Activities

• Political initiatives driving observation
  progress and needs for validation
• Observing land cover as ECV
• Independent quality assessment and integration
• Global land cover observations and accuracy
  assessments
• MODIS and GLOBCOVER
• Best use of existing reference datasets
• Coordinated effort to develop LC validation
  database
• Accuracy assessment for fine-scale land cover
  change and area estimates
• Post-Kyoto agreement and best practices

63
GLOBCOVER (2005/6)
Dataset release September 2008
64
GLOBCOVER validation
More than 4300 validation points interpreted by
int. experts Blue points Globcover project (3835
points) Gonds set (n80) (including 225
double interpretation by 2 experts) Brown points
IMWI data (403 points) Global area weighted
accuracy 73 based on 3167 reference
points Validation report available 15. October
2008
64
65
MODIS Collection 5 Land Cover (2001-present)
66
MODIS Land Cover Validation1860 Training Sites
Cross Validation
67
Notion of a Best Currently Available Land Cover
Map
Need for comparative assessment and synthesis
products Combine the strengths of multiple
sources of land cover data across multiple
extents and resolutions (national, regional and
global sources) Based on what is learned in the
validation exercise A transparent and community
endorsed activity LCCS compatibility is
critical Simple guidance criteria more
accurate is better finer spatial resolution is
better more thematic detail is better
68
Probability
69
Operational lc validation framework
Existing global LC products
Time
70
Operational lc validation framework

• Effort serves purpose for estimating
• Individual map accuracy / best available map
• Area of land-cover classes or land-cover change
• Sampling design
• 10 km by 10 km block (Landsat MODIS)
• Flexible to increase sample size to provide
  precise country or region specific estimates
• Response design
• Reference data (i.e. SPOT) interpreted by
  regional experts (i.e. GOFC-GOLD networks) using
  LCCS classifiers
• Analysis design
• Error matrix for each map and region
• Estimates of class area
• Supplementary accuracy information on land-cover
  composition and landscape pattern

71
Current Status Early Stages of Stratification
and Sample Design Workshop tentatively planned
for late July in Boston
72
GOFC-GOLD biomass working group

• Summary of 1. GOFC-GOLD biomass WG meeting,
  Missoula, Montana, June 15, 2009

www.fao.org/gtos/gofc-gold www.gofc-gold.uni-jena.
de
Global Observations of Forest Cover and Land
Dynamics
73
Some observations

• Strong motivation for getting this WG going
• Focus on remote sensing contribution
• Emphasis on forest aboveground biomass!?
• Focus on truly global observations and monitoring
  in consistent and transparent manner
• What we can build on
• Political mandate an established framework
  (GOFC-GOLD)
• Pre-operational large area monitoring examples
  (using specific sensors)
• Different technologies working on different
  scales, biomass ranges and regions
• Existing/sustained? global coverage of
  observation data

74
Continuum of Research and Operations
75
Initial set of goals and objectives

• Establish a platform for coordination and
  cooperation for biomass monitoring
• Develop a community-consens framework for
  monitoring biomass globally
• Dedicated conrtributions to key international
  activities
• Consensus framework on how to observe biomass as
  ECV and support of evolving programs
• GOFC-GOLD contribution to GEO tasks
• GOFC-GOLD technical REDD sourcebook
• Support of space agencies and plans for dedicated
  missions (BIOMASS, Desdiny etc.)
• Integrate activities with other ECV observation
  products (land cover and fire)
• Foster comparison and synergy among existing
  datasets

76
Final remarks

• Land/forest observations prominent on the
  political agenda and driving observation progress
• Clear direction for land cover monitoring
• Move towards more operational mode
• International coordination and cooperation and
  role of international community (ECV)
• Some critical issues
• Continuity and availability of observations
• Observing land use and land changes (incl.
  accuracy assessment)
• Efforts for best available land cover map
• Other areas requiring international coordination
  (i.e. biomass)
• Role of global monitoring versus national
  implementation and verification (of climate
  policies)

77
Web resources

• GOFC-GOLD
• http//www.fao.org/gtos/gofc-gold/
• GOFC-GOLD land cover project office
• http//www.gofc-gold.uni-jena.de/
• GOFC-GOLD REDD sourcebook
• http//www.gofc-gold.uni-jena.de/redd
• IPCC background paper on use of remote sensing in
  LULUCF sector (GOFC-GOLD 33)
• http//www.fao.org/gtos/gofc-gold/series.html
• UNFCCC/SBSTA technical paper on costs of
  monitoring for REDD
• http//unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/tp/01.pdf