A Proposal for a Global Forest Information System

Gilberto Câmara, INPELúbia Vinhas, INPEDalton Valeriano, INPEFred Fonseca, Penn State Univ.Clodoveu Davis, Univ Minas Gerais - Brazil

How can Brazil achieve its deforestation targets?

Brazilian National Plan for Climate Change

Degradation and deforestationT2 – Partial Loss of forest structureT1 - Selective logging

T3 – Collapse of forest structure

Barlow and Peres (2008)

T4 – Clear-cut area

T1,5 – Loss of undercover due to fire

Progressive degradationT1 – Selective logging

T2 – Partial loss of forest structure T3 – Complete loss of forest structure

Severely degraded forest Pasture

Marcelândia (MT, Brazil) – Jan-2008(4.000 ha)

Pasture inside a forest area

Progressive degradation: the final steps

~230 scenes Landsat/year

Yearly detailed estimates of clear-cut areas

PRODES: Clear-cut deforestation mapping

15-day alerts of newly deforested large areas

DETER: Real-time deforestation monitoring

DEGRAD: Forest degradation

0 10 Km0 10 Km

Forest degradation in LANDSAT image (June 2008)

166-112

116-113

116-112

TerraAmazon – open source software for large-scale land change monitoring

Spatial database (PostgreSQL with vectors and images)2004-2008 data: 3 million polygons, 300 GB images, 250 GB

vector data

Alerta DETER nov-2007Landsat/TM (August 2007) MODIS (November 2007)

How hard is to use MODIS?

Detection of deforestation and degradation in MODIS requires much expertise (low-resolution artifacts)

Clearing area for pasture

Checking DETER´s data (February 2008)

Validation is essential for credibility!

How hard is to use ALOS?

ALOS L-HH image (July 2007) ALOS L-HH image (November 2007)

LANDSAT TM image (June 2007)The real thing (Marcelandia, Brazil)

Backscatter is seasonally variable (chance of false positives and false negatives)

Georeferencing

Import Image

Mixture Model

Interpretation and Edition

Dissemination

Classification

Segmentation

Auditing

Mixture Model

In search of the pure pixels (the Holy Grail of remote sensing)

Methods: Mixture ModelOriginal LANDSAT TM image Soil component

Shade component Vegetation component

Soil component

Georeferencing

Import Image

Mixture Model

Interpretation and Edition

Dissemination

Classification

Segmentation

Auditing

Segmentation

Segmented soil component

Methods: Segmentation

Georeferencing

Import Image

Mixture Model

Interpretation and Edition

Dissemination

Classification

Segmentation

Auditing

Classification

Deforestation 2005-2006

Deforestation 2004-2005ForestPrevious deforestation

Methods: Classification

A lot of work goes into editing and auditing!

Georeferencing

Import Image

Mixture Model

Interpretation and Edition

Dissemination

Classification

Segmentation

Auditing

I nterpretation and Edition

Methods: Editing and auditing

Georeferencing

Import Image

Mixture Model

Interpretation and Edition

Dissemination

Classification

Segmentation

Auditing

I nterpretation and Edition

Results: Wall-to-wall maps

Deforestation is spatially autocorrelated (wall-to-wall maps are required)

INPE´s Remote Sensing Satellites: 2010-2020

2016

2014

CBERS-5CBERS-4

Amazônia-1

CBERS-3

2015

Amazônia-2

CBERS-6

2017

2019

CBERS-SAR

Amazônia-3

2013

2012

2011

2010

2018

CBERS: China Brazil Earth Resources Satellite

Amazônia-1: 100% Brazilian

2020

The Anti-Uncle Scrooge Principle

A pixel unused is a penny wasted

LANDSAT data archive (USGS)

A penny saved is a penny earned

Value comes from use!

What is a public good?

Non-rival ...[goods] which all enjoy in common in the sense that each

individual's consumption of such a good leads to no subtractions from any other individual's consumption of that good... (Samuelson)

Non-excludableit is impossible to exclude any individuals from consuming the good

Almost all spatial data are public goods

Global Forest Information System

The Digital Earth vision …images, maps, research

results, laws, policies, and citizen-provided information can be indexed, searched, discovered and used by any interested parties...

A Global Forest Information SystemLANDSAT TM (30 m) CBERS HRC (2,5 m)

Navigate, describe, understand: image navigation and processing, production and dissemination of information, knowledge-building using semantics

“A few satellites can cover the entire globe, but there needs to be a system in place to ensure their images are readily available to everyone who needs them. Brazil has set an important precedent by making its Earth-observation data available, and the rest of the world should follow suit.”

Data for the world´s tropical areas

Global satellite data in 5 meter+ will be freeConcerted action needed with benefits to all involved

Cuiabá

Boa Vista

Chetumal

MaspalomasAswan

Jo´burg

Nairobi(?)Accra(?)

UrumchiMiyun

Ghuangzhou

Darwin)

Optical Satellites for Forestry

1

10

100

1 10 100 1000Resolution (metres)

Revi

sit (

days

)

WFI CBERS-2

CCD CBERS-2/3/4

AWFI CBERS-3/4

MUX CBERS-3/450

50

5AWFI

CBERS-5/6

MUXCBERS-5/6

Mapping

DetectionDescription

5

AWFI Amaz-1/2

TM LANDSAT

HRG SPOT

500

MODIS

SPOT PAN

HRC CBERS-2B

CBERS SAR-2

CBERS SAR-1

SENTINEL-2

LISS-4 (IRS-P6)

LISS-3 IRS-P6/7

AWIFS (IRS-P6/7)

Multiple perspectives Type 1: Capable national agencies

Type 2: Other National agencies

Type 3: International organizations

Type 4: Scientists and experts

Type 5: Private companies (markets and services)

Type 6: NGOs and common citizens.

Supporting Type 1 users with high-resolution

CBERS-HRC image (2,5 meters)

DeforestationDegradation

Validation sites (INPE, Feb 2008)

High-resolution images support validation

Supporting Type 2 users with web tools

Angola national report?

Angola

CBERS CCD (20 m) 24-June-08

GoogleEarth (resolution? date? )

Web-based tools for mapping, validation and assessment of deforestation

Knowledge base A

What is deforestation?

Deforestation! Deforestation?

Knowledge base B

Supporting Type 4 users with semantics

Overcoming the semantical debate

Supporting Type 6 users: Society is watching!

Open Globes

Global Forest Information System

OpenForestMap WikiForest

Scientists, Citizens, Markets

National, int´l agencies

Angola

Congo DR

Development as Freedom (Amartya Sen)

The goal of development is the promotion and expansion of valuable capabilities. Capability is the freedom to achieve valuable beings and doings.