Next steps within GMES

The Kyoto-Inventory project may be over, but the work continues - and is being scaled up - within a service called GSE Forest Monitoring. Having begun in 2003 with a consolidation phase, this October a fully operational forest and land use monitoring system offering standardised information products mainly based on Earth Observation has begun.

Rainier Fockelmann of GSE Forest Monitoring project manager GAF AG briefed the workshop on the project so far. Within Europe, GSE Forest Monitoring has core users in Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Russia and Sweden in addition to the users involved in Kyoto-Inventory - and is providing pan-European coverage to the European Environment Agency (EEA).

On a global scale, the service is also working with countries including Indonesia, Namibia, and South Africa, and includes the evaluation of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) afforestation in developing countries.

GSE Forest Monitoring is being carried out as part of the initial portfolio of services offered through Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), a joint initiative between ESA and the European Union to build a global monitoring capability in support of Europe's environmental and sustainable development goals.

Kyoto-Inventory and GSE Forest Monitoring results are being jointly presented to the 8-10 000 delegates attending this month's United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal.

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Contact: Mariangela D'Acunto
mariangela.dacunto@esa.int
39-069-418-0856
European Space Agency
11-Nov-2005