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Free Satellite Monitoring Of Forest
The UN food agency Tuesday announced a satellite image database on the degradation of the world's forests as part of efforts to reduce global warming caused by greenhouse gases.
A tree stump sits in a patch of secondary forest that was burned down to make way to a field of rice near Andasibe in south west Madagascar in September 2008. The UN food agency Tuesday announced a satellite image database on the degradation of the world's forests as part of efforts to reduce global warming caused by greenhouse gases.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation will provide high-resolution satellite data free to developing countries in partnership with other organisations including the State University of South Dakota and US Geological Survey in the United States and European Union Joint Research Center, a statement said.
"Never before has data of this kind been provided directly to users in developing countries," said FAO Director General Jacques Diouf.
"Monitoring will be cheaper, more accurate and transparent for countries that want to participate in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation."
The data "will result in sound and objective estimates of global forest and land cover change," said Jeffrey Eidenshink, acting director of the US Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation and Science Center.
The database will provide an essential tool for individual countries to measure, report and verify their carbon emissions, the FAO said.
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