European Tropical Forest Research Network

The World Resources Institute has prepared a briefing note in response to the launch of the Forest Resources Assessment 2000, commenting on the methodology and principal findings of the new FAO report. http://www.wri.org/forests/fra2000.html.

Global Forest Watch is an international data and mapping network that combines on-the-ground knowledge with digital technology to provide accurate information about the world's forests. Global Forest Watch started working in four pilot countries in 1997; Cameroon, Canada, Gabon and Indonesia. They now also work in Chile, Russia, Venezuela, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the United States; and are planning to expand to Brazil in the near future. More information at: http://www.globalforestwatch.org/

The Global Vegetation Monitoring (GVM) Unit of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability (Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy) has a mission is to provide accurate information on changes in the world's vegetation cover as needed for EU policy in the areas of environment, development and external affairs. The focus is provision of information and methodologies that support the implementation of international environmental treaties and conventions (such as the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention to Combat Desertification and the Convention on Biological Diversity) and to support the EU's aid and development programmes. Research concentrates on the generation of information and products on forest condition, fire dynamics, land cover change and physical and biophysical parameters for bio-geological models through the quantitative analysis of data from Earth observing satellites. Products (including scientific publications, algorithms, time-series of measurements, maps, images, models, statistics, assessments and reports) are made available to policy-makers, the science community, space agencies and where appropriate, to the general public. http://www.gvm.sai.jrc.it/

The Carbon offset verification of forest ecosystems project presents a new method for estimating above-ground biomass, and hence carbon stocks of conifer forests utilising remote sensing techniques and carbon partition modelling. http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/carbon/default.htm
The lead partner in the project is Oxford University. Other partners include: Institute of Terrestrial Ecology; University of Wales, Swansea; SGS UK Ltd; EcoSecurities Ltd; Biffa Waste Ltd. The project is funded under the Earth Observation LINK Programme supporting innovative Earth Observation data applications research.
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/thematics/eolink/

Forest Information Update (FIU) is a free weekly email newsletter on the inventorying and monitoring of natural resources. FIU is produced by Forest Information Services http://home.att.net/~gklund/ and is supported by organisations, agencies and individuals working in the natural resources field. All the FIU's are now posted on the GAOF portal http://www.foresters.org/portal under topic (Forest Information Update). Currently FIU is sent to about 6,000 email addresses world-wide.

The mission of the IUFRO Task Force on Global Forest Information Service (GFIS) is to develop a strategy for, and implement, an Internet-based metadata system that will provide coordinated worldwide access to forest information. The resulting system will provide multiple benefits to information users and providers including, facilitating user-friendly access to a greater amount of information, and improving the dissemination and quality of forest-related data and information.
http://iufro.boku.ac.at/iufro/taskforce/hptfgfis.htm.

Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD) http://www.gofc.org/gofc/index.html is a coordinated international effort working to provide ongoing space-based and in-situ observations of forests and other vegetation cover, for the sustainable management of terrestrial resources and to obtain an accurate, reliable, quantitative understanding of the terrestrial carbon budget. Originally developed as a pilot project by the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS http://www.ceos.org) as part of their integrated Global Observing Strategy, GOFC-GOLD is now a panel of the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS http://www.fao.org/gtos/index.html).

The UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) produces integrated and accessible information on the conservation of the world's forests and their biodiversity, as well as providing support in managing this information http://www.unep-wcmc.org/forest/homepage.htm.

The ‘User Requirements Study for remote sensing based spatial information for the sustainable management of forests' is available in downloadable PDF format at http://www.itc.nl/library/papers_1999/general/ursfinal.pdf. Spanish and French versions of the executive summary are also available. The study aims to address the following issues:

• Assessment of requirements for spatial information in order to support sustainable forest management;
• Preliminary evaluation of the extent to which these requirements for spatial information can be met by existing and planned remote sensing systems;
• Identification of the requirements for, and components of, an improved information supply mechanism in the form of an "end-to-end" information system.

The User Requirement Survey questionnaire and an overview of available literature on spatial information needs can be found at Neonet http://apex.neonet.nl/ Netherlands Earth Observation NETwork.

Last but not least, the ETFRN topics page on remote sensing and GIS provides access to all GIS and remote sensing related information on the ETFRN website; including the links page on this theme, the results of the ETFRN Directory search, as well as meetings and training courses on this topic. In addition, the ‘searchable databases' link leads into the search results of web databases maintained by other organisations.