The Research and Development (R&D) Coordination Component of the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) works to address methodological and technical issues that interfere with progress in the forest and land use monitoring and greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting efforts of tropical countries. The component fosters a community of experts to identify science and technology that can improve the efficiency of forest monitoring efforts, thus addressing unmet country needs. The component also provides a forum for the efficient and effective coordination of existing and planned science and research activities in the forest monitoring sector.

The specific activities of the component include:

• identifying methodological and technical issues hindering progress in countries’ monitoring and reporting efforts;
• joint planning to address priority gaps and challenges and identifying possible donors, resources and organizations to conduct collaborative research;
• fostering a large and diverse group of experts and practitioners that can be assigned to address challenges and bottlenecks that hinder progress;
• facilitating expert meetings and producing publications and communication products that synthesize research findings and existing knowledge to support country uptake;
• acting as expert advisors to advocate for practical solutions and robust technologies and approaches, highlighting their potential and limitations;
• ensuring that new science and technology is considered for improving monitoring efforts and addressing unmet country needs as they become operational;
• developing and coordinating R&D activities to align with countries’ unmet needs;
• assessing and communicating the operational readiness of proposed technologies and methods;
• providing a forum for the coordination of existing research activities, focusing on progressing GFOI priority R&D topics towards an operational status;
• working with the Methods and Guidance Documentation Component to develop and maintain guidance materials on operational methods and technologies;
• working with the Capacity Building Component to support the identification of gaps and training in new methods and technologies; and
• working with the Data Coordination Component to address new science and technologies needed to support improved methods for accessing and using datasets and tools.

The work of the R&D Coordination Component is conducted through the collaborative efforts of GFOI partner researchers, experts, countries and other practitioners. It is led by the European Space Agency (ESA), which funds the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) Helmholtz Centre Potsdam to provide the component coordination functions in close collaboration with other GFOI partners.