REDD+ Monitoring Services with Satellite Earth Observation - Community Forest Monitoring Pilot

今年早些时候，联合国在纽约达成了可持续发展目标（SDGs），这是一套普遍的目标、指标和指标，联合国成员国将利用这些目标、指标来制定未来15年的议程和政策。17个目标之一是“保护、恢复和促进陆地生态系统的可持续利用，可持续地管理森林，防治荒漠化，制止和扭转土地退化，制止生物多样性丧失”。根据全球碳项目（Global Carbon Project）的数据，2004-2013年期间，森林砍伐和其他土地利用变化造成的二氧化碳排放量平均为33亿吨二氧化碳，占人类活动（化石燃料、水泥、土地利用变化）总排放量的8%。迫切需要支持正在进行的旨在减少毁林和森林退化造成的排放的倡议，以及参与性森林管理战略，以实现发展中国家森林的可持续管理和增加森林碳储量。“减少毁林和森林退化造成的排放”（REDD+）国际倡议旨在保护世界各地受到威胁的生态系统中的碳储量和生物多样性。决策者、金融家和科学家已经确定了对强大和客观的测量、报告和验证（MRV）系统的需求，并且已经认识到卫星技术是在所需的时间尺度上定期监测世界森林的唯一方法。在REDD+的背景下，莱斯特大学正在寻求开发和演示一个近乎实时的森林覆盖变化信息服务的原型，该服务来自哨兵1号和2号卫星数据，符合相关的国家森林定义，并通过智能手机应用程序以易于访问的报告格式直接提供给社区森林协会和国家机构。我们最初的重点是解决肯尼亚热带森林的管理问题，肯尼亚最近制定了一项雄心勃勃的气候变化行动计划。该服务原型将基于莱斯特大学在地球观测科学方面的国际知名专业知识，与肯尼亚的一家移动技术开发商（UKALL Ltd）合作交付。通过NERC探路者赠款进行了市场研究，以评估从卫星获取全球近实时森林砍伐信息服务的潜力，并将NERC CORSAR赠款的研究成果商业化。这项研究表明，肯尼亚是一个可能的客户。仅肯尼亚每年因气候冲击造成的损失估计就高达5亿美元（占国内生产总值的2%）。如果不加以解决，气候变化将阻碍肯尼亚实现到2030年成为中等收入国家的目标。最近的一次市场访问证实，肯尼亚当局对通过智能手机应用程序与各种感兴趣的利益相关者提供卫星森林监测产品/服务非常感兴趣，其中包括：-环境部和肯尼亚森林服务部门（国家层面）-社区林业协会（地方层面）-环境规划署和联合国粮农组织/ REDD+（国际层面）我们的目标是开发一款移动应用程序，使肯尼亚的客户能够访问近乎实时的，有关当地森林覆盖变化的详细信息。无障碍提供这项服务在地方和国家层面都具有真正的价值。为了释放这项服务的巨大潜力并将我们的技术商业化，我们将开发一个原型并在市场上进行演示。我们的目标是在卫星图像和技术开发领域与确定的商业伙伴合作，建立一家合资企业或分拆公司。

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a universal set of goals, targets and indicators that UN member states will be expected to use to frame their agendas and policies over the next 15 years, were agreed in New York earlier this year. One of the 17 goals is to "Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss". According to the Global Carbon Project, carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and other land-use change were 3.3 Gt carbon dioxide on average during 2004-2013, accounting for 8% of all emissions from human activity (fossil fuel, cement, land use change). There is a pressing need to support ongoing initiatives aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and participatory forest management strategies to reach sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countriesIn the context of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the international initiative "Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation" (REDD+) aims to protect carbon stocks and biodiversity in threatened ecosystems around the world. Policy makers, financiers and scientists have identified the need for robust and objective Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems and it has been recognised that satellite technology is the only way to regularly monitor the world's forests on the timescales required.Within the context of REDD+, the University of Leicester is seeking to develop and demonstrate a prototype for a near-real-time forest cover change information service from Sentinel-1 and 2 satellite data that meets the relevant national forest definitions and is delivered directly in an easily accessible reporting format via a smartphone app to community forest associations and national agencies. Our initial focus is to address the management of tropical forests in Kenya, which has recently set out an ambitious climate change action plan. The service prototype will be delivered based on the University of Leicester's internationally renowned expertise in Earth Observation science in collaboration with a mobile technology developer in Kenya (UKALL Ltd).Market research has been conducted via a NERC Pathfinder grant to assess the potential uptake of a global near-real-time deforestation information service from satellites, commercialising the research results from the NERC CORSAR grant. This study has indicated Kenya to be a likely customer. The annual cost of climatic shocks to Kenya alone is estimated at US$ 0.5 billion (2% of GDP). If not addressed, climate change will hamper progress towards Kenya's aim of being a middle income country by 2030.A recent market visit has confirmed that Kenyan authorities have a huge interest in satellite enabled forest monitoring products/services delivered via a smartphone app with a variety of interested stakeholders, amongst which:- Ministry of Environment and Kenyan Forest Services (National level)- Community Forestry Associations (Local level)- UNEP and UN FAO / REDD+ (International level)Our objective is to develop a mobile app allowing customers in Kenya to access a near-real-time, detailed information about forest cover change for their local area of interest. The accessible provision of this service has real value at the local scale as well as the national scale. To unlock the considerable potential for this service and commercialise our know how, we will develop a prototype and demonstrate it in market. We aim to create a joint venture or spin out company in collaboration with identified commercial partners in the areas of satellite imagery and technology development.