In support to the EU’s fight against global warming, the aim of IFORCE (International Forest Resources
and Carbon Emissions) is to develop methods to benchmark
the monitoring of forest resources and carbon emissions, with a focus on tropical regions. Assessments are
carried out to gain an improved understanding of how forest resources can meet the competing demands for
economic and ecological services, especially when confronted with increasing threats, such as climate change.
Monitoring, reporting and verification of forestry emissions are essential requirements for achieving the
objectives of the UNFCCC Paris agreement (Dec. 2015), but also for the participation of tropical countries
in the REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) mechanism.
More specifically, IFORCE aims at further developing and validating reference methods for the assessment
of forest cover change in tropical regions from Earth Observation data, in relation and with support to
the Copernicus program. Main emphasis is put on the assessment of forest degradation and forest regrowth
processes, in collaboration with international (FAO, CIFOR) and national partners in the tropics (national
forest inventory or REDD+ services). New analysis modules are developed to facilitate the estimation of carbon
emissions from disturbance in tropical forest cover.
IFORCE is / has been implementing the following projects:
REDDCopernicus (H2020) aims at the definition of an end-to-end operational system for Core
and Downstream REDD+ Services, providing products and services available via the Copernicus Data and
Information Access Services (C-DIAS) Platform.
ROADLESS FOREST has created a global map of intact (= roadless) evergreen forests, permitting the
monitoring of forest change and particularly deforestation at an annual
basis or for defined time periods since the 1980s.
ReCaREDD has developed in collaboration with partner organizations in tropical partner countries
remote sensing-based methods and software-tools for assessing tropical forest cover and forest degradation
in the context of REDD+. Within the component of Capacity Building a series of national/regional workshops
and training have been implemented for participants from more than 15 tropical countries.
