This week is the 6th World Forest Week and it coincides with the 2th session of Food and Agriculture Organization’s Committee on Forestry (COFO) Undoubtedly the focus of this week is forests! The theme of this week is ‘ Forests and the Sustainable Development Goals –from aspiration to action ’ The major highlight of this week is launch of publication, The State of The World’s Forests: Forest Pathways to Sustainable Development, whose aim is to provide new information to help interlinkages and enhance the understanding of how policies on forests and trees help achieve SDG15 and also seeks to...
A recently published pre-print article details the usage of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for environmental monitoring. While the article was written within the specific armpit of a project, it raises interesting issues on the use of drones for data collection, ecosystems and river monitoring. The usage of drones, UAVs or Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) continues to be widespread within agriculture. Drones are used in cropping, monitoring plants, pests control and many other areas including forest and environmental monitoring. A recently published pre-print article by a group of scholars...
Have you ever looked for an easy solution to create networks and communities of practice within your organization? Would you like a simple, non-commercial tool, respectful of privacy for team discussions? In need of a knowledge exchange solution that is compatible with low bandwidth users in the South? Dgroups can offer you the perfect solution. Dgroup is a longstanding successful development initiative that promotes dialogue supported by over 20 organizations. It offers an easy to use email tool and an online platform for small or large groups that benefit from networks and discussions...
In this article, you will Learn about the possibility of using ICTs to combat illegal logging Review some Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) that have been used elsewhere Appreciate some few cases from LAOs, Cameroon and Greece where ICTs have been used to combat illegal logging. In the beginning of the year, l wrote a piece focusing on ICTs and Forestry management in general. Additionally, for more information on how ICTs can be used to improve forestry governance, see Module 14 of the ICT in Agriculture e-Sourcebook . However, in this present piece l would like to focus on...
Collect Earth is a free and open source software for land monitoring developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) . The software is part of the set of tools called Open Foris , and was developed with Google Earth , Bing Maps and Google Earth Engine . Collect Earth is designed so that users can analyze high and very high resolution satellite imagery for different purposes, including: Support multi-phase National Forest Inventories Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) assessments Monitoring agricultural land and urban areas Validation of existing...
Global Forest Watch (GFW) is an interactive online forest monitoring and alert system designed for users to access the information they need to better manage and conserve forest landscapes. The mission of the Global Forest Watch is to provide the most precise information about the status of forest landscapes worldwide. GFW works in collaboration with NASA , Google and the University of Maryland to collect data on forest change which is displayed on an interactive map. Watch this introductory video by the Global Forest Watch: GFW is free and enables users to work with a wide variety of tools,...
ICTforAg2017 conference will bring together 300 thought leaders and decision-makers in agriculture and technology from the international development community and the private sector. With community-driven sessions, participants will examine how new innovations can empower smallholder farmers, and the communities that support them, through information and communication technologies (ICTs). The conference will take a particular interest in new ICT solutions that can boost the productivity of both smallholder farmers and agricultural value chains, keeping the discussion inclusive of all possible...
OpenForis is a free open-source software for environmental monitoring. It consist in a set of free and open-source software tools that facilitates flexible and efficient data collection, analysis and reporting. Open Foris includes: Collect: Easy and flexible survey design and data management Collect Mobile: Intuitive data collection and validation in the field Collect Earth: Innovative land assessment through freely available satellite imagery Calc: Efficient and collaborative data analysis and results dissemination Geospatial Toolkit: Powerful command-line utilities for processing geospatial...
March 21 is the International Day of Forests (IDF) and was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012.On this day, the world celebrates and raises awarenes of the importance of all types of woodlands and trees in sustaining livelihoods. The management of forestry resources has also been reinforced by the United Nations, for example,sustainable development goal (SDG) 15 aims 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”...
After a two-year ban of unmanned aereal vehicles for non-military reasons in Kenya, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) has approved draft regulations on the commercial use of drones in the country. The law will be released soon, according to governemnt officials. Kenya is the second African nation after Rwanda to grant the permission to fly drones for commercial use. An article released in May 2016 by the Daily Nation newspaper, Kenya's largest, reported that more than 1,000 applicants were already seeking regulatory approvals to operate drone-based transport services in Kenya. Among...
