PARTIES TO THE UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE (UNFCCC) HAVE BEEN REQUESTED TO ESTABLISH ROBUST AND TRANSPARENT NATIONAL FOREST MONITORING SYSTEMS (NFMS) THAT USE A COMBINATION OF REMOTE SENSING AND GROUND-BASED FOREST CARBON INVENTORY APPROACHES TO ESTIMATE ANTHROPOGENIC FOREST-RELATED GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND REMOVALS REDUCING UNCERTAINTIES AS FAR AS POSSIBLE. A COUNTRY S NFMS SHOULD ALSO BE USED FOR DATA COLLECTION TO INFORM THE ASSESSMENT OF NATIONAL OR SUBNATIONALFOREST REFERENCE EMISSION LEVELS AND/OR FOREST REFERENCE LEVELS (RELS/RLS). IN THIS WAY THE NFMS FORMS THE LINK BETWEEN HISTORICAL ASSESSMENTS AND CURRENT/FUTURE ASSESSMENTS ENABLING CONSISTENCY IN THE DATA AND INFORMATION TO SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF REDD+ ACTIVITIES IN COUNTRIES. THE CREATION OF A RELIABLE TRANSPARENT AND COMPREHENSIVE NFMS IS CURRENTLY LIMITED BY A DEARTH OF RELEVANT DATA THAT ARE ACCURATE LOW-COST AND SPATIALLY RESOLVED AT SUBNATIONAL SCALES. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP EVALUATE AND VALIDATE SEVERAL CRITICAL COMPONENTS OF A NFMS IN KALIMANTAN INDONESIA FOCUSING ON THE USEOF LIDAR AND RADAR IMAGERY FOR IMPROVED CARBON STOCK AND FOREST DEGRADATION INFORMATION. OUR GOAL WILL BE TO EVALUATE SENSOR AND PLATFORM TRADEOFFS SYSTEMATICALLY AGAINST IN SITU INVESTMENTS AS WELL AS PROVIDE DETAILED TRACKING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF UNCERTAINTY IN A COST-BENEFIT FRAMEWORK. KALIMANTAN IS AN IDEAL AREA TO EVALUATE THE USE OF REMOTE SENSING METHODS BECAUSE MEASURING FORESTCARBON STOCKS AND THEIR HUMAN CAUSED CHANGES WITH A HIGH DEGREE OF CERTAINTY IN AREAS OF DENSE TROPICAL FORESTS HAS PROVEN TO BE DIFFICULT. WHILE THE PROPOSED NFMS COMPONENTS WILL BE DEVELOPED AT THE SUBNATIONAL SCALE FOR KALIMANTAN WE WILL TARGET THESE METHODS FOR APPLICABILITY ACROSS BROADER GEOGRAPHIES AND FOR IMPLEMENTATION AT VARIOUS SCALES. THIS PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL ADVANCE THE STATE OF THE ART OF MEASURING REPORTING AND VERIFICATION (MRV) SYSTEM METHODOLOGIES IN WAYS THAT ARE BOTH TECHNICAL AND OPERATIONAL. FIRST BECAUSE A PRIMARY FOCUS OF CARBON MONITORING SYSTEMS ESPECIALLY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IS ON COST-EFFECTIVENESS OUR ANALYSIS OF OPTIMAL INPUTS OF INFORMATION FROM VARIOUS SATELLITE AIRBORNE AND IN SITU MEASUREMENTS WILL PROVIDE VALUABLE PRACTICAL INFORMATION THAT COUNTRIES CAN USE TO CONSIDER THE TRADEOFFS. SECOND BECAUSE QUANTIFYING AND UNDERSTANDING UNCERTAINTY IS CRITICAL BOTH IN AN EARTH SCIENCE RESEARCH CONTEXT AND WITH REGARD TO PAYMENT FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES OUR DEVELOPMENT OF REUSABLE METHODS FOR TRACKING AND EVALUATING UNCERTAINTY WITHIN A CARBON MONITORING SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE A FRAMEWORK FOR STAKEHOLDERS AND RESEARCHERS TO UNDERSTAND AND MINIMIZE ERRORS ACROSS MRV COMPONENTS. THIRD BECAUSE CARBON MONITORING REQUIRES INTEGRATION OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES WITH MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENTIFIC METHODS FROM FORESTRY ECOLOGY SOIL SCIENCE REMOTE SENSING AND BIOGEOCHEMISTRY OUR TEAM'S EXPERTISE IS PARTICULARLY WELL-CONSTRUCTED TO ADDRESS THESE COMPLEX SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL ISSUES.
$1,559,207FY2014National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
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