The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

invites you to a

Symposium on "Space and Forests"

on the occasion of the 49th session of the
United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

Monday, 12 June, 16:00 - 18:00 hours
Vienna International Centre (VIC)
 Conference Room III, Building C

 

Theme of the Symposium

Vast areas of the world, approximately 4 billion hectares or 30 per cent of the world's land area, are covered with various kinds of forests. Among them are tropical, subtropical, temperate and boreal forests, rainforests, mountain forests and mangroves. Forests provide raw materials for wood products, food, fuel and shelter, as well as for a large variety of medicines. They sustain ecosystems, which purify air and water, regulate the climate and recycle nutrients and wastes. Forests are endangered, among other threats, by erosion, fire, pollution and over-cutting, of which the latter by itself, contributes to land degradation, loss of biodiversity and the disruption of local ecosystems. These stresses result in a loss of forest at a rate of 375 square kilometres a day, equivalent to an area the size of Greece each year. By today, we have lost 80 per cent of the original forest on Earth.

An essential requirement to identify and mitigate existing or potential threats to forests is to have good monitoring systems in place, including forest cover maps. Such maps, together with satellite images, can be used to monitor sustainability of forest ecosystems and estimate forest biomass by country, ecological zone, climate region and other terrestrial characteristics. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are very useful in organizing and combining various types of information necessary to manage forests.

Satellite remote sensing technology can provide periodic and systematic observations, which are very useful in promoting the sustainable development and exploitation of forests. Space-based remote sensing offers the data needed for an up-to-date and objective inventory of every area on Earth. Such data might not be possible, or affordable, to obtain from ground surveys due to remoteness of the observed site or the cost associated with ground surveys. Satellite remote sensing, complimented with other applications, have proven cost-effective for conducting time-series and large-scale observations of the Earth's systems.

Programme:

Moderator: L. Beckel, Austria

16:00

Opening remarks by the Moderator

16:10

Global forest monitoring
A. Branthomme, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

16:30

Global TREES Project: using space applications for monitoring forests
A. Belward, European Commission

16:50

Applications of remote sensing data in forestry
E. Csató, Hungary

17:10

Space technology for monitoring and managing forests in Nigeria
A. Salami, Nigeria

17:30

Use of space for forest monitoring and management
Speaker to be confirmed

17:50

Discussion

  • identify ways in which developing countries can make use of space-based data and information to protect their forests
  • recommend ways of expanding the use, in developing countries, of space-based data and information for forest management

18:00

Conclusions

 

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PRIOR REGISTRATION REQUIRED

For further information, and to register for the Symposium, please contact:
Mr. Shuhrat Sulaymanov, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
Tel: +43-1-26060-4952
or e-mail: oosa@unvienna.org