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Satellites support Kyoto Protocol through forest mapping service   Vegetation in general, and trees in particular, work in the same way as chemical 'scrubbers' aboard spacecraft or submarines, to remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Accordingly the Kyoto Protocol permits signatory nations to set new forests against emissions. ESA's Kyoto-Inventory service, forerunner to GSE Forest Monitoring, utilises satellite data to assist national annual Kyoto reporting on afforestation, refforestation and deforestation (ARD).  Kyoto-Inventory land use map for the whole of Switzerland based on satellite data. Yellow signifies cropland, dark green is forest, light green grassland, red settlements, white unproductive and blue water and wetlands.  Deforestation as well as afforestation and other forms of land cover change are being charted by the Kyoto-Inventory service and its successor GSE Forest Monitoring, which is part of the GMES initiative.  Three-dimensional view of Switzerland land use map, incorporating digital elevation model data, seen from the north.  Changes can be seen from land use maps of two different years in the Netherlands; red signifies settlements, light green is grassland and dark green forests. Land use change maps have been produced for 1984-1990 and 1990-2002.  High Italian land use product quality has been ensured by checking against 1-m-resolution orthophotos - aerial photos to eliminate image displacement due to camera tilt and terrain relief.  Land use map for Girona province in Spain for 2001, one of three provinces covered by Kyoto Inventory. Grey specifies unproductive land, red for settlements, dark green is forest, light green is SBWG, yellow is cropland, blue is water and wetlands.  Landsat satellite image (left) and derived land use map for part of Lombardy, Italy. Next steps within GMES  This image features Papua, the easternnmost province of Indonesia. Papua was formerly named Irian Jaya, it changed its name only recently in 2002. The Indonesians had called it Irian Jaya, "Victorious Hot Land", when they took over control of the last of the Dutch East Indies colonies. The scarcely popolated island is known to be a naturalist paradise, surrounded by rich, exotic emerald waters. The population are generally tribal inhabitants, commonly called Papuans, or "frizzy haired" in Malay language. Many clans have their own language, about 250 different languages have been inventorised. About 60-80 % (varying according sources) of the land is covered by forest. This area covered with a variety of forests (rain forests and pine forests), mountains, lakes and swamps and even glaciers (not on the image) are home to an immense variety of fauna (and especially flying fauna) and flora; many of its species are unique to the island of New Guinea. It is claimed that Papua's jungle is even more wild and impenetrable than the tropical rainforest in the Amazon Basin.
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Release date: 16 November 2005 |