Changes in timber haul emissions in the context of shifting forest management and infrastructure

The issues surrounding 'Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation' (REDD) have become a major component of continuing negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This paper aims to address two key requirements of any potential REDD mechanism: first, the generation of measurable, reportable and verifiable (MRV) REDD credits; and secondly, the sustainable and efficient provision of emission reductions under a robust financing regime. To ensure the supply of MRV credits, we advocate the establishment of an 'International Emission Reference Scenario Coordination Centre' (IERSCC). The IERSCC would act as a global clearing house for harmonized data to be used in implementing reference level methodologies. It would be tasked with the collection, reporting and subsequent processing of earth observation, deforestation- and degradation driver information in a globally consistent manner. The IERSCC would also assist, coordinate and supervise the computation of national reference scenarios according to rules negotiated under the UNFCCC. To overcome the threats of "market flooding" on the one hand and insufficient economic incentives for REDD on the other hand, we suggest an 'International Investment Reserve' (IIR) as REDD financing framework. In order to distribute the resources of the IIR we propose adopting an auctioning mechanism. Auctioning not only reveals the true emission reduction costs, but might also allow for incentivizing the protection of biodiversity and socio-economic values. The introduced concepts will be vital to ensure robustness, environmental integrity and economic efficiency of the future REDD mechanism.     

Options for monitoring and estimating historical carbon emissions from forest degradation in the context of REDD+

Measuring forest degradation and related forest carbon stock changes is more challenging than measuring deforestation since degradation implies changes in the structure of the forest and does not entail a change in land use, making it less easily detectable through remote sensing. Although we anticipate the use of the IPCC guidance under the United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), there is no one single method for monitoring forest degradation for the case of REDD+ policy. In this review paper we highlight that the choice depends upon a number of factors including the type of degradation, available historical data, capacities and resources, and the potentials and limitations of various measurement and monitoring approaches. Current degradation rates can be measured through field data (i.e. multi-date national forest inventories and permanent sample plot data, commercial forestry data sets, proxy data from domestic markets) and/or remote sensing data (i.e. direct mapping of canopy and forest structural changes or indirect mapping through modelling approaches), with the combination of techniques providing the best options. Developing countries frequently lack consistent historical field data for assessing past forest degradation, and so must rely more on remote sensing approaches mixed with current field assessments of carbon stock changes. Historical degradation estimates will have larger uncertainties as it will be difficult to determine their accuracy. However improving monitoring capacities for systematic forest degradation estimates today will help reduce uncertainties even for historical estimates.     

Free software: A review,in the context of disaster management

This article examines the nature of freely available geospatial software and information systems in the context of disaster management. The use of geospatial data is crucial to effective disaster management, from preparedness to response and recovery. However, to make efficient use of available data and information – before, during and after a disaster – reliable software is required. The software applications examined in this paper range from Geographical Information Systems, to the processing of remotely sensed images, crowd-source mapping, web applications and content management systems. Trends and challenges are considered, and guidelines are given, to foster and encourage the provision of information by Freeware and Open Source Software. Free geoinformatics can help to optimize the limited financial, technological and manpower resources that many organisations face, providing a sustainable input to analytical activities.     

Historic emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in Mato Grosso,Brazil: 1) source data uncertainties

Background  

Historic carbon emissions are an important foundation for proposed efforts to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation and enhance forest carbon stocks through conservation and sustainable forest management (REDD+). The level of uncertainty in historic carbon emissions estimates is also critical for REDD+, since high uncertainties could limit climate benefits from credited mitigation actions. Here, we analyzed source data uncertainties based on the range of available deforestation, forest degradation, and forest carbon stock estimates for the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso during 1990-2008.     

Contribution of forest wood products to negative emissions: historical comparative analysis from 1960 to 2015 in Norway,Sweden and Finland

Background

Forests and forest products can significantly contribute to climate change mitigation by stabilizing and even potentially decreasing the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere. Harvested wood products (HWP) represent a common widespread and cost-efficient opportunity for negative emissions. After harvest, a significant fraction of the wood remains stored in HWPs for a period that can vary from some months to many decades, whereas atmospheric carbon (C) is immediately sequestered by vegetation re-growth. This temporal mismatch between oxidation of HWPs and C uptake by vegetation generates a net sink that lasts over time. The role of temporary carbon storage in forest products has been analysed and debated in the scientific literature, but detailed bottom-up studies mapping the fate of harvested materials and quantifying the associated emission profiles at national scales are rare. In this work, we quantify the net CO₂ emissions and the temporary carbon storage in forest products in Norway, Sweden and Finland for the period 1960–2015, and investigate their correlation. We use a Chi square probability distribution to model the oxidation rate of C over time in HWPs, taking into consideration specific half-lives of each category of products. We model the forest regrowth and estimate the time-distributed C removal. We also integrate the specific HWP flows with an emission inventory database to quantify the associated life-cycle emissions of fossil CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O.

Results

We find that assuming an instantaneous oxidation of HWPs would overestimate emissions of about 1.18 billion t CO₂ (cumulative values for the three countries over the period 1960–2015).We also find that about 40 years after 1960, the starting year of our analysis, are sufficient to detect signs of negative emissions. The total amount of net CO₂ emissions achieved in 2015 are about ??3.8 million t CO₂, ??27.9 t CO₂ and ??43.6 t CO₂ in Norway, Sweden, and Finland, respectively.

Conclusion

We argue for a more explicit accounting of the actual emission rates from HWPs in carbon balance studies and climate impact analysis of forestry systems and products, and a more transparent inclusion of the potential of HWP as negative emissions in perspective studies and scenarios. Simply assuming that all harvested carbon is instantaneously oxidized can lead to large biases and ultimately overlook the benefits of negative emissions of HWPs.

     

基于广义3S技术的森林资源经营管理系统建设

针对我国森林资源经营管理处于比较粗放的水平,将现代测绘科学与林业相结合,构建基于广义3S技术的森林资源经营管理系统。     

Suitability of laser data for deriving geographical information: A case study in the context of management of fluvial zones

In the Netherlands, around 40% of the territory is below sea level. Rivers that flow through this land have to be constantly monitored to avoid flooding. To this end, terrain information is needed. At present, the relief information is acquired by means of photogrammetry, which makes the information expensive. Furthermore, it is estimated that at least 4 years are needed to collect the relief information of all river zones. A cheaper and faster alternative appears to be the use of laser measurements acquired from an aircraft. Thus, it is of great importance to determine if the user requirements, concerning information needed and related quality, can be fulfilled by high-density laser measurements. In this article, we assess the feasibility of using laser data to help generate a hydrodynamic model. This is needed to determine the effect of high water levels and of earthworks, such as removal of sand in river areas. The conclusion of this study is that as far as the test area is concerned, which appears to be a good representative of the fluvial regions in the Netherlands, the laser data allow one to recover the relief information needed for river management with the desired quality.     

Reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD): a climate change mitigation strategy on a critical track

Background  

Following recent discussions, there is hope that a mechanism for reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) will be agreed by the Parties of the UNFCCC at their 15th meeting in Copenhagen in 2009 as an eligible action to prevent climate changes and global warming in post-2012 commitment periods. Countries introducing a REDD-regime in order to generate benefits need to implement sound monitoring and reporting systems and specify the associated uncertainties. The principle of conservativeness addresses the problem of estimation errors and requests the reporting of reliable minimum estimates (RME). Here the potential to generate benefits from applying a REDD-regime is proposed with reference to sampling and non-sampling errors that influence the reliability of estimated activity data and emission factors.     

Timber production assessment of a plantation forest: An integrated framework with field-based inventory,multi-source remote sensing data and forest management history

Timber production is the purpose for managing plantation forests, and its spatial and quantitative information is critical for advising management strategies. Previous studies have focused on growing stock volume (GSV), which represents the current potential of timber production, yet few studies have investigated historical process-harvested timber. This resulted in a gap in a synthetical ecosystem service assessment of timber production. In this paper, we established a Management Process–based Timber production (MPT) framework to integrate the current GSV and the harvested timber derived from historical logging regimes, trying to synthetically assess timber production for a historical period. In the MPT framework, age-class and current GSV determine the times of historical thinning and the corresponding harvested timber, by using a “space-for-time” substitution. The total timber production can be estimated by the historical harvested timber in each thinning and the current GSV. To test this MPT framework, an empirical study on a larch plantation (LP) with area of 43,946 ha was conducted in North China for a period from 1962 to 2010. Field-based inventory data was integrated with ALOS PALSAR (Advanced Land-Observing Satellite Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar) and Landsat-8 OLI (Operational Land Imager) data for estimating the age-class and current GSV of LP. The random forest model with PALSAR backscatter intensity channels and OLI bands as input predictive variables yielded an accuracy of 67.9% with a Kappa coefficient of 0.59 for age-class classification. The regression model using PALSAR data produced a root mean square error (RMSE) of 36.5 m³ ha⁻¹. The total timber production of LP was estimated to be 7.27 × 10⁶ m³, with 4.87 × 10⁶ m³ in current GSV and 2.40 × 10⁶ m³ in harvested timber through historical thinning. The historical process-harvested timber accounts to 33.0% of the total timber production, which component has been neglected in the assessments for current status of plantation forests. Synthetically considering the RMSE for predictive GSV and misclassification of age-class, the error in timber production were supposed to range from −55.2 to 56.3 m³ ha⁻¹. The MPT framework can be used to assess timber production of other tree species at a larger spatial scale, providing crucial information for a better understanding of forest ecosystem service.     

Application of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System in infrastructure development

Road transportation network development is a vital component of infrastructure development. Absence of database on roads of Trivandrum district was felt as a major hindrance in prioritizing improvement/development/repair of the roads for better traffic efficacy. High resolution PAN imagery (IRS-IC, September-December 1999, 1:25,000 scale) was visually interpreted to decipher road net work for preparing an elaborate database for Kerala Highway. The data were incorporated on 1:25,000 scale SOI base maps. Field verification was carried out to identify and categorize the PWD roads as per their administrative sections. Final maps were digitized in ARC/INFO environment. Information about terrain conditions was also generated using satellite remote sensing images and aerial photographs. Incorporating the height source and elevation data in the value field and taking mass points as input, a TIN (Triangulated Irregular Network) model of a sample area near Vellanad, 22 km east of Trivandrum city was created to analyse the terrain-road network interrelationship. Our case study involving draping of road network on TIN model as well as on geomorphology map established that this methodology could be used to define alternative and efficient route corridors, with particular emphasis on selection of the least-cost route and prioritization of repair.     

测绘新技术在城市新基建模型构建中的融合应用

空间信息基础设施建设是新基建内容中的重要组成部分,随着测绘技术的快速发展,遥感卫星、无人机、移动测量车等新型测绘装备不断普及;此外,物联网技术在新基建浪潮下也得到广泛应用.基于此,本文介绍了采用地面移动测量与倾斜摄影技术融合的方法构建三维精细模型,同时在模型中引入物联网数据和BIM数据,实现了城市新基建模型的构建.在此...     

网格计算与Grid GIS体系结构与关键技术探讨

结合当前的网格计算和网格数据库技术,从GIS集成运算与数据共享的角度概括了GridGIS包括应用层、中间件层与资源层三层架构的协同工作体系结构和宽带网络技术、分布对象技术、互操作技术与GML共享技术等关键技术支撑以及GridGIS服务组成结构等。     

Urban growth and transport infrastructure interaction in Jeddah between 1980 and 2007

This paper aims to use spatial statistical tools to explore the reciprocal spatial–temporal effects of transport infrastructure and urban growth of Jeddah city, a fast developing polycentric city in Saudi Arabia. Global spatial autocorrelation (Moran's I) and local indicators of spatial association (LISA) are first used to analyze the spatial–temporal clustering of urban growth and transport infrastructure from 1980 to 2007. Then, spatial regression analysis is conducted to investigate the mutual spatial–temporal effects of urban growth and transport infrastructure. Results indicate a significant positive global spatial autocorrelation of all defined variables between 1980 and 2007. LISA results also reveal a constant significant spatial association of transport infrastructure expansion and urban growth variables from 1980 to 2007. The results not only indicate a mutual spatial influence of transport infrastructure and urban growth but also reveal that spatial clustering of transport infrastructure seems to be influenced by other factors. This study shows that transport infrastructure is a constant and strong spatial influencing factor of urban growth in the polycentric urban structure that Jeddah has. Overall, this study demonstrates that exploratory spatial data analysis and spatial regression analysis are able to detect the spatial–temporal mutual effects of transport infrastructure and urban growth. Further studies on the reciprocal relationship between urban growth and transport infrastructure using the study approach for the case of monocentric urban structure cities are necessary and encouraged.     

Satellite remote sensing of forest type and landcover in the subalpine forest region,Kananaskis Valley,Alberta

Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery and a digital elevation model (DEM) of the Kananaskis Valley in southwestern Alberta have been used to separate three forest types and eight landcover classes with mapping accuracies up to 76% overall. Image transformations based on a principal components analysis (PCA) were used to distinguish vegetation type and separate surface features in visual interpretations, and to reduce the 10 channel data set (TM 1–7, elevation, slope and incidence) to a more manageable 7 channel data set (PCA 1–4, elevation, slope and incidence). The DEM was shown to be critical in providing explanation of surface cover variability even though the original model was produced from medium scale aerial photography on a relatively coarse 100 metre grid. Discrimination increased up to 50% for pure stands of Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta Dougl.) and Englemann Spruce (Picea englemanii Parry) based on analysis of 100 pixels in test areas. Overall increases in map accuracy were between 2 and 11%. Success at this level of classification is required prior to detailed ecological study and modelling of mountain vegetation productivity at the community level using current satellite and aerial remote sensing technology.     

Local variability in the timing and intensity of tropical dry forest deciduousness is explained by differences in forest stand age

Tropical Dry Forest deciduousness is a behavioral response to climate conditions that determines ecosystem-level carbon uptake, energy flux, and habitat conditions. It is regulated by factors related to stand age, and landscape scale variability in deciduous phenology may affect ecosystem functioning in forests throughout the tropics. This study determines whether observed phenological differences are explainable by forest age in the southern Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, where forest clearing for shifting cultivation has created a mosaic of forest stands of varying age. Matched-pair statistical tests compare neighboring forest pixels of different age class (12–22 years versus 22+ years) and detect significant differences in Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)-derived metrics related to the timing and intensity of deciduousness during three dry seasons (2008–2011). In all seasons, young forests exhibit significantly more intense deciduousness, measured as total seasonal change of EVI normalized by annual maximum EVI (p < 0.001), and larger normalized EVI change during successive dry season months relative to start-of-dry-season EVI (p < 0.001), than neighboring older forests subject to similar environmental conditions.     

Selection and quality assessment of Landsat data for the North American forest dynamics forest history maps of the US

Using the NASA Earth Exchange platform, the North American Forest Dynamics (NAFD) project mapped forest history wall-to-wall, annually for the contiguous US (1986–2010) using the Vegetation Change Tracker algorithm. As with any effort to identify real changes in remotely sensed time-series, data gaps, shifts in seasonality, misregistration, inconsistent radiometry and cloud contamination can be sources of error. We discuss the NAFD image selection and processing stream (NISPS) that was designed to minimize these sources of error. The NISPS image quality assessments highlighted issues with the Landsat archive and metadata including inadequate georegistration, unreliability of the pre-2009 L5 cloud cover assessments algorithm, missing growing-season imagery and paucity of clear views. Assessment maps of Landsat 5–7 image quantities and qualities are presented that offer novel perspectives on the growing-season archive considered for this study. Over 150,000+ Landsat images were considered for the NAFD project. Optimally, one high quality cloud-free image in each year or a total of 12,152 images would be used. However, to accommodate data gaps and cloud/shadow contamination 23,338 images were needed. In 220 specific path-row image years no acceptable images were found resulting in data gaps in the annual national map products.     

The concept,key technologies and applications of temporal-spatial information infrastructure

Abstract

Smart city is the development of digital city; as its main supporting technology, the digital city geo-spatial framework has to be upgraded to the temporal-spatial information infrastructure (TSII). First, this paper proposes the concept and basic framework of smart city and defines the concept of TSII – processes, integration, mining analysis, and share time-stamps geographic data – and the related policy, regulations and standards, technology, facilities, mechanism, and human resources. The framework has four components: the benchmark of time and space, temporal-spatial big data, the cloud service platform and the related supporting environment. Second, the temporal-spatial big data and cloud service platform are elaborated. Finally, an application of TSII constructed by the Xicheng District Planning Bureau in Beijing is introduced, which provides a useful reference for the construction of smart city.     

Quantification of carbon stock to understand two different forest management regimes in Kayar Khola watershed,Chitwan, Nepal

The impact of forest management activities on the ability of forest ecosystems to sequester and store atmospheric carbon is of increasing scientific and social concern. This is because a quantitative understanding of how forest management enhances carbon storage is lacking in most forest management regimes. In this paper two forest regimes, government and community-managed, in Kayar Khola watershed, Chitwan, Nepal were evaluated based on field data, very high resolution (VHR) GeoEye-1 satellite image and airborne LiDAR data. Individual tree crowns were generated using multi-resolution segmentation, which was followed by two tree species classification (Shorea robusta and Other species). Species allometric equations were used in both forest regimes for above ground biomass (AGB) estimation, mapping and comparison. The image objects generated were classified per species and resulted in 70 and 82 % accuracy for community and government forests, respectively. Development of the relationship between crown projection area (CPA), height, and AGB resulted in accuracies of R² range from 0.62 to 0.81, and RMSE range from 10 to 25 % for Shorea robusta and other species respectively. The average carbon stock was found to be 244 and 140 tC/ha for community and government forests respectively. The synergistic use of optical and LiDAR data has been successful in this study in understanding the forest management systems.