Forests for People

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the main obstacle to getting consistent images, and they are only able

to cover the whole area of the country once per three years. On the

other hand, the need for obtaining information on forest and forest

carbon has been significantly increased after the IPCC Conference of

Parties (COP) held in Bali on December 2007, specifically to support

programmes dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in

Indonesia. A presidential task force suggested that the use of GIS and

remote sensing data from various satellites for mapping and monitor-

ing deforestation and degradation should be the key components for

successfully reducing carbon emissions in Indonesia.

RESTEC has long cooperated with Indonesia through various

projects and cultivated good relationships with Indonesian

ministries and agencies. The Ministry of Forestry (MoF), the

Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT)

and RESTEC recognized that PALSAR data would be suitable for

forest monitoring and can solve the cloud problem, enhancing

the existing forest monitoring system in Indonesia. Despite the

many forest monitoring projects with satellite data conducted

in Indonesia, the country would still benefit from the additional

capabilities of PALSAR data.

RESTEC has conducted research and analysis for monitoring

forest and estimating forest biomass with ALOS/PALSAR data since

its launch in 2006. A project established in 2009 involved the devel-

opment of methods of estimating forest biomass from PALSAR data.

Three different methods were developed in different regions: the

first was to estimate above-ground biomass (AGB) directly from the

intensity of radar reflection (Normalized Radar Cross Section, or

NRCS); the second to calculate and estimate AGB from the results

of tree height analysed by Interferometric SAR (InSAR) techniques;

and the third to calculate and estimate AGB from the classification

map made from SAR data.

Based on the situation in Indonesia and RESTEC’s

previous development work, MoF, BPPT and

RESTEC submitted a proposal to the Group on Earth

Observation (GEO) and the proposal was accepted in

October 2010.

GEO is a voluntary partnership of 87 governments

including the European Commission and 61 inter-

national organizations. GEO started its activities in

response to calls for action by the 2002 World Summit

on Sustainable Development and by the 29th G8

summit in Evian. GEO released the Call for Proposals

(CFP) in February 2009, in order to identify and

promote practical applications of Earth observation

to improve decision-making and to call attention to

specific examples in which Earth observation provides

societal benefit. The CFP also has a particular objec-

tive to increase the capabilities and capacity of end

users in developing countries to use and apply Earth

observations.

The proposal to the GEO-CFP programme was

titled ‘Utilization of ALOS satellite data to support

mapping and monitoring deforestation and degra-

dation in Indonesia’. The project aims to integrate

Earth observations into decision assessments and

other strategic and operational decision-making

processes in mapping and monitoring forest and

peatland deforestation and degradation in Indonesia.

This overall objective will be completed by the

accomplishment of the following objectives: 1. To

develop new hierarchical change detection mapping

and monitoring methods for forest and peatland

in Indonesia using ALOS/PALSAR satellite data; 2.

To assess the applicability of the new methods, in

terms of reliability, credibility, and consistency to

improve capacity, capability, and quality of mapping

and monitoring for deforestation and degradation on

forest and peatland; and 3. To incorporate the newly

developed hierarchical methodology to operate

within both national and local levels of the decision-

making process.

The project started with a kick-off workshop in

Indonesia in July 2011. At this workshop, the partici-

pants discussed the current applications of PALSAR

in Indonesia in order to avoid duplication and agreed

that Indonesia still needs basic training for forest and

forest biomass monitoring. As a result of the discus-

sions at the workshop, RESTEC will hold the first

PALSAR data training for BPPT, MoF and the other

related Indonesian partners in 2012 in Tokyo, Japan.

While the project in Indonesia has just started,

the Brazilian project has achieved great success.

The success builds on RESTEC’s 35-year history,

its expertise dedicated to remote sensing and expe-

rience of capacity-building. RESTEC conducts

satellite data training in both Japan and overseas

every year. Since its foundation in 1975, over 3,000

trainees have visited Japan and participated in

training with many more having attended RESTEC

training overseas.

Colour composite image on Google Earth

Colour composite images can be overlaid on the other optical satellite images