The EU funded H2020 REDDCopernicus Project was presented at the COP26 European Union Side Events on 1st November as part of the session: EO for Climate Action: Mitigation, REDD+, and the Global Stocktake. The session focussed on presenting in a chronological order the importance of having a systemic approach for using Earth Observation (EO) for GHG Emissions and Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) reporting; the main EU funded EO-based research programmes for GHG and AFOLU reporting which are envisaged to lead to operationality and complementarity and synergies between EU and International programmes.
The REDDCopernicus project was presented by Dr. T. Haeusler from GAF AG (Project Co-ordinator) and Prof. M. Herold (Wageningen University).
The presentation highlighted the importance of the policy review and stakeholder engagement which was a foundation of the project. The stakeholder feedback was then used for the conceptualisation of a future Copernicus REDD+ service. The main geo-spatial products that were considered in the design included: Sentinel-2 Annual Composites, Tree Cover Density, Tree Cover Presence & Seasonality, Tree Cover Presence Change and Tree Cover Disturbance. Illustrations of these products were provided, highlighting the importance of these different products for improved forest area and land use change reporting. M. Massart from DG DEFIS then addressed the transition from the current REDDCopernicus project to an operational Copernicus REDD+ service (funded by the EU) by noting that this component in the Land service is intended to strengthen forest monitoring systems at global / regional levels and at national level for REDD+ reporting. He provided examples of how such a Core product could support countries for REDD+ reporting with downstream products and services such as Forest Area and Change, Intact/Non-Intact Forest and Change, as well as Near Real Time (NRT) Canopy Disturbance assessment.
The Copernicus REDD+ component should be operational by early 2023. He concluded by presenting the planned EU Observatory which is a key action of the Communication ‘Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the world’s Forests’ and an element of the future regulation on Deforestation-free products. The Observatory, which will be on a web-based Platform, will have the main objectives to monitor changes in forest cover and forest degradation globally, consumption of commodities and products possibly associated with deforestation and forest degradation as well as conduct feasibility studies for an early warning system.
Session recording available: https://youtu.be/_eQYxAMaphc
Session Slides are available (5MB): https://www.reddcopernicus.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021_11_01_COP26_EUSideEvent_EOMitigation.pdf
