Remi Dannunzio

Central Africa

• Cameroon had the Sustainable Cocoa Initiative and cocoa mapping from the Joint Research Centre - European Commission, European Forest Institute (EFI) and Collecte Localisation Satellites.
• Congo Basin received support with the regional drivers assessment (Central African Forest Initiative [CAFI]) and the Republic of the Congo had the SYNA-MNV (CAFI) and updated forest reference emission level submitted to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• Democratic Republic of the Congo received “Building global capacity to increase transparency in the forest sector” (CBIT-Forests) support (Global Environment Facility [GEF]), national forest inventory (NFI) data in the Food and Agriculture Microdata Catalogue, and national forest monitoring systems (NFMS) and monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) support for forest mitigation (Accelerating Innovative Monitoring for Forests [AIM4Forests]).

West Africa

• Côte d’Ivoire had support for cocoa insight from the Forest Data Partnership (FDP) with SERVIR, Promoting zero-deforestation cocoa production for reducing emissions in Côte d'Ivoire with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the updated forest reference emission level (FREL) submitted to UNFCCC and sample-based area estimation (CAFI). 
• Ghana had the first emission reductions payment agreement under the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance coalition, a full MRV sequence and NFMS assessment, cocoa insight from FDP with SERVIR, MRV support for forest mitigation and deforestation-free commodities (AIM4Forests). 
• Liberia received support with sample-based area estimation (CAFI)
• Sierra Leone had support from the European Union’s NFI. 

East and South Africa

• Ethiopia had the second MRV (FREL, including degradation and gain), NFI and activity data sampling frames (Silvacarbon), and sample-based area estimation (CAFI). 
• Kenya received forest data, ecosystem restoration and MRV support for better resource management and forest mitigation (AIM4Forests), as well as sample-based area estimation (CAFI).
• Uganda had MRV support for forest mitigation and deforestation-free commodities (AIM4Forests), as well as sample-based area estimation (CAFI).

Projects and tools

• AIM4Forests (2023–2028) offered global activities for forest monitoring and technical assistance to up to 20 countries (four in Africa so far) and has thematic foci that differ between countries.
• CAFI provided spatial and temporal analyses of drivers of deforestation and degradation in six Central African countries using open-source data and software as well as sample-based area estimation.
• CBIT-Forest phase 2 (2024–2026) enhances forest data transparency under the Paris Agreement in countries like Ethiopia, Liberia, Zambia, Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. See the press release, flyer, newsletter and publication. It is implemented by the National Forest Monitoring and Global Forest Resources Assessment teams (contact [email protected]) with the GFOI and UNFCCC.
• EFI’s Cocoa insight: The role of spatial information for European Union Deforestation Regulation due diligence covers spatial information from Earth observation (EO) technology.
• Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring for the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration contributes to Sustainable Development Goals and reporting for Global Biodiversity Framework Target 2 with field activities (seedling planting), delineation (area under restoration) and spatially explicit information.
• Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation, with the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, Oxford and the University of Maryland, developed models for biomass maps and emission factor (EF) estimation in the Economic Community of West African States with field data.
• GEF’s Dryland Sustainable Landscape Integrated Programs took place in Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe (Southern African Development Community).
• OpenForis tools were used for 15 FREL (70 percent of African submissions) and four Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+) technical assessments (100 percent of African REDD+ results submissions).
• REDD+ readiness (GCF) took place in Benin, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone.
• System for Earth Observation Data Access, Processing and Analysis for Land Monitoring (SEPAL) is improving agricultural statistics with land surface phenology metrics (start of season, end of season, rate of green-up / senescence) combined with field-level crop-type training data.
• Whisp in Ground, an open-source, map-first data collection platform, connects the offline world with cloud-based storage and computation. 

Rene Siwe

Completed activities

• REDD+ registry: The technical aspect of the registry portal in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was completed.
• High forest cover, low deforestation: There was a case study finalized on accessing climate finance for in the Republic of the Congo.
• Forest degradation: An operational definition for forest degradation was established in the Republic of the Congo.
• Central Africa Women’s Initiative for Climate Action (WICA): This initiative launched in 2021 to strengthen women's involvement in greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and climate action; It was expanded to six countries: Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo.

Ongoing activities

• REDD+ registry: There is coordination with the Democratic Republic of the Congo government for a smooth handover from the information technology consultancy firm.
• Institutional guidelines for nested MRV: An ongoing study will establish guidelines for nested MRV considering the different scales of REDD+ programmes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Accessing forest finance: The upcoming plans are to discuss the results with decision-makers before wider dissemination.
• Forest degradation: There are continued efforts to integrate forest degradation into national GHG emission accounting in the Republic of the Congo.
• WICA: It is the fourth cohort recently recruited in the six countries. Ongoing activities include national workshops, rigorous training in GHG accounting, webinars, professional engagement opportunities and participation in conferences.
• Land use change and emission estimation: There is an ongoing process to assess land use changes and associated GHG emissions and removals in Cameroon using the Collect Earth Online tool.
• GHG accounting training: There is online training on introductory and cross-cutting issues for GHG accounting in Equatorial Guinea and Central Africa Republic.
• Peatland Strategy: The national Peatland Strategy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is being elaborated on.

Planned activities

• NFMS assessment: There is a planned assessment in the Central Africa Republic and Equatorial Guinea to evaluate progress in setting up NFMSs.
• REDD+ registry: There will be an awareness-raising session for national stakeholders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Silvacarbon is responding to a request from the Cameroon government to assist in establishing a REDD+ registry.
• Regional reporting workshops: Regional workshops are planned to facilitate knowledge exchange among Central African countries on setting up their NFMSs and meeting UNFCCC reporting requirements.
• South-south knowledge exchange: There is an initiative to organize a knowledge exchange between Equatorial Guinea and Spanish-speaking Latin American countries on NFMS.

Foster Mensah

EO technology for land cover and land use monitoring

• Boston University, James Madison University and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) SERVIR Applied Sciences Team harness EO technology to estimate, monitor and map land change and forest degradation in West Africa.
• The focus is on monitoring and attributing forest disturbance in real-time with continuous change detection and classification (CCDC) spectral mixture analysis (SMA).
• They have been building technical capacities among members in West Africa through collaborative efforts with Alliance Bioversity International and CIAT to empower communities in forest monitoring and conservation.

Land degradation, map deforestation and forest disturbance

• The University of Florida and NASA-SERVIR Applied Sciences Team integrate socioeconomic and EO data to characterize conflict precursors and land degradation dynamics in Ghana.
  • The objectives include land cover and degradation dynamics, downscaling socioeconomic indicators, the socioeconomic context of land degradation, training, dissemination and outreach.
  • They expect to deliver spatially downscaled socioeconomic indicators, operational techniques for fusing moderate resolution and open- source unmanned aerial vehicle data for monitoring and mapping land degradation, the WebGIS Portal and land degradation risk maps. 
• The University of Ghana, as part of the SERVIR West Africa programme, has been developing a data portal for monitoring small-scale mining activities in Ghana. 
  • They have successfully mapped small-scale mining footprints from 2015 to 2022.
  • Hotspots were identified within forest zones and the mined-out area was estimated during this period. 

Building technical capacity

• SERVIR Carbon Pilot is an ensemble approach to estimating GHG emissions.
• Google Earth Engine (GEE) concepts include a time series analysis of satellite data, change detection and classification with CCDC, and area estimation and accuracy assessments.
• Training sessions involving partners from Boston University and the University of Florida were conducted to train in the ensemble approach to estimate GHG emissions.
  • Members from Burkina Faso, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Niger and Togo were trained.
  • GEE for land cover change mapping, time-series analysis using satellite data, change detection with CCDC-SMA algorithm, area estimation and accuracy assessment systems were utilized.

Empowering communities for forest monitoring and conservation

• A pilot collaborative initiative was implemented for a methodology to monitor the impact of the conservation intervention in terms of payment for ecosystem services.
• This initiative is currently operational near a forest reserve in the Ashanti region.
• It seeks to scale or extend this approach to small-scale artisanal mining areas to facilitate its application more broadly. 

Marco Van der Linden 

Forest Carbon Partnership Facility

• Cote d’Ivoire: Verification of the first monitoring report is progressing well and expected to conclude within February 2024, following which payment can be made.
• Democratic Republic of the Congo: Validation and verification for the first monitoring report started in July 2023. Credits already issued by REDD+ will be discounted from the total credits to be verified and issued. 
• Ghana: Verification of the second monitoring report started in July 2023 and is expected to conclude before June 2024.
• Madagascar: Verification of the first monitoring report concluded and payment made in November 2023.
• Mozambique: Verification of the second monitoring report verification completed in 2022. Interest was expressed in combining the third and fourth monitoring report; an initial draft of the third monitoring report was submitted and is currently under review by the Financial Management Team.
• Republic of the Congo: Verification of the first monitoring report started in November 2023.

Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (BioCarbon Fund)

• Ethiopia: Preparation of the first monitoring report started in November 2023.
• Zambia: Validation concluded, and the first monitoring report is expected in 2025.

Common issues observed from verification processes

• Activity data issues included: 
  • differences in the interpretation of samples in CE (the Validation and Verification Body sees a different land cover/use);
  • difficulties with standard operating procedures for the collection of activity data; 
  • inconsistencies in the number of collected samples and their usage for emission reduction estimations, a lack of clear transition definitions;
  • a lack of spatial data to justify stratification;  
  • limited capacity to explain methods for generating stratifications; and 
  • inconsistency between strata for the reference level and monitoring period.
• EF challenges included:
  • a lack of raw data to support the estimation of EF (data from national forest inventories);
  • mistakes in the units to report EF (tonnes of carbon, carbon equivalent and dry matter);
  • use of EF from secondary sources that are not applicable, conservative, cannot be justified (i.e. based on expert judgment without supporting documents), or are not TIER 2; and
  • mistakes in the application of the EF before and after the conversion.

MRV 2.0 – Next generation MRV and digital MRV

• A proof of concept was developed in Mozambique in collaboration with Sylvera, European Space Agency (ESA), California Polytechnic State University (CalPoly) and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
• Data collection and biomass mapping was completed in Mozambique; CalPoly/AWS developed an integration/reporting prototype, and a lessons learned workshop was carried out in November 2023.
• Conclusions: High intensity field data collection expensive; Local and regional scale biomass mapping viable alternatives; Data storage management crucial; Full-fledged MRV 2.0 not viable yet, but data integration solutions improve efficiency in reporting and verification.
• Effort to automate MRV processes: Testing in Mozambique revealed challenges in fully automating processes due to field data collection and countries' desire for transparency in systems.

Luisa Teixeira

High resolution data project

• The aim is to make satellite data accessible for reducing and reversing tropical forest loss.
• The programme provides high-resolution, high-frequency satellite images at no cost, primarily sourced from Planet imagery at 4.77 pixel resolution, and is released monthly.
• It mainly consists of tropics mosaics aimed at reducing and reversing the loss of tropical forests.

Reception and user stats

• Since its launch in 2020, the programme has been well-received, with a consistent intake of users globally, exceeding 252 000 registered users, including approximately 1 000 in Africa.
• The programme has maintained a steady influx of users, indicating sustained interest and utility.
• Two surveys were conducted in 2023, receiving 781 responses globally with 183 from Africa.
• Surveys aim to gather user feedback and insights into how the programme's data is utilized in various regions and applications.
• Geographic distribution
• Main user countries include Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Mozambique and Nigeria, spanning from West to East Africa, covering deforestation and biodiversity hotspots.
• The programme's reach extends across various regions within Africa, proving widespread interest.

User applications

• Users focus on various applications such as land use policies, transparency, carbon markets, international support structures and forest crime.
• Common use cases include land cover mapping, forest area change estimation, and deforestation detection.

Impactful work

• Examples of impact for this work include mapping trees outside forest cover and conducting country-wide mapping for, as well as research on deforestation patterns and drivers.
• The programme has facilitated impactful research and initiatives aimed at addressing deforestation and environmental conservation.
• Testimonial highlights
• Testimonials highlight governmental units improving deforestation monitoring, using NICFI data in tools like GEE and Collect Earth, supporting landscape restoration programmes and investigating criminal activities.
• Users across various sectors have reported significant benefits and outcomes from utilizing the programme's data and resources.

Upcoming events and resources

• Suggestions, feedback and ideas are welcomed, and updates are available on Twitter and GitHub repositories for workflows and research work. Please find more resources here.
• The programme encourages engagement and collaboration, providing avenues for users to contribute and access resources for further exploration and application.