The Pacific GIS/RS User ConferenceSuva, Fiji Island, 27-30 November 2012

Sharon R. Boe, SPC/GIZ-SOPAC (sharon@sopac.org)

2012

SPC/GIZ Regional REDD+ Project:Forest Carbon Inventory In Vanuatu

Proposed Forest Mapping In Vanuatu

ABBREVIATIONS• SPC – Secretariat of the Pacific Community• GIZ – Deutsche Gesellschaft fur

Internationale Zusammenarbeit• REDD – Reducing Emissions from

Deforestation and forest Degradation• FCPF – Forest Carbon Partnership Facility• MRV – Measuring, Reporting and Verifying• REL – Reference Emission Level• GHG – Green House Gas• VANRIS – Vanuatu Resource Information

System

PROJECT OVERVIEW SPC/GIZ Climate Protection through

Forest Conservation in Pacific Island Countries Project >> Aim: mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from forestry and receive compensation payments.

Vanuatu: REDD readiness process mainly supported by:

>> SPC/GIZ – development of system for MRV carbon level and REL >> FCPF of World Bank – policy process

Ongoing Project until 2015

PILOT ISLANDS The islands of

Vanuatu are located approx. 2,200km east of Australia and comprises of 82 islands.

The program is focusing on 4 pilot islands:

1. Santo2. Malekula3. Efate4. Erromango

MAPPING ACTIVITIES

1) Delineation of coconut stands on Santo 20102) Deforestation processing Santo 2007-20103) Cloud correction Santo 1990-20004) Deforestation processing Santo 2000-2007-

20105) Accuracy assessment Santo 2010

Forest stratification (GHG Inventory, 2011)

AVAILABLE IMAGERY

Corresponding Mapping Product and Remarks

Sensor TypeSpatial

ResolutionSpatial

Coverage Temporal Coverage

Vanuatu Department of Lands and Survey: Topographic Map of Vanuatu

NEXTMap TopoSAR ORI

Orthorectified radar image

1.25m Wall-to-Wall 2003

Acquired by GIZ from Digital Globe

ALOS PalsarL-Band radar dual-pol FBD

25m Wall-to-Wall2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

Acquired by GIZ under the ALOS Science Program Phase 3

World View 2Multispectral

optical2m 11 Scenes 2012

WORLD VIEW 2 DATA

8 band bundle data (Santo)- Multispectral: 2m- Panchromatic: 0.5m

Projection: UTM/WGS84, zone 58S Pre-processed (atmospheric correction,

pan-sharpened (NC & FC), image enhancement, backdrop)

Digital Terrain Model (DTM): 25m

ALOS PALSAR DATA ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite) PALSAR (The Phased Array type L-band

Synthetic Aperture Radar) 25m Mosaic dual polarization Data was ordered at Level 1.5 format Dual temporal change detection and forest cover Adv: Cloud-free, Day & Night and All weather land

observation Training: 16-19 October 2012

SAR Image Preprocessing, Enhancement, Classification (Erdas 9.1)

Support from Jaxa

HH Polarization• Very low backscatter of water• High backscatter in Urban Areas• High backscatter over vegetation and

non-vegetation

HV Polarization• High backscatter over vegetation areas• Low backscatter over non-vegetation

areas

HH/HV Ratio• Forest/Dense Vegetation (bright)• Non-Vegetation Areas (dark)

+

+ =

RGB• R: HH• G: HV• B:HH/HV

ALOS PALSAR RGB COMPOSITE

Visible on most of Western Part of Santo: high altitude areas

Layover Effects

CHALLENGES WITH CURRENT RADAR DATA

PROHIBITS IMAGE ANALYSIS

Spatial Modeler, Erdas 9.1

HH/HV Ratio Calculations Classification Conversion of amplitude data (DN) to radar

cross-section (dB) Above Ground Biomas (AGB) Calculations

Semi-Automatic Forest Classification

Move into the use of semi-automatic classification for forest mapping:

- Vanuatu Study (2007) conducted by Martin Herold and his team• Supervised Classification

- Maximum Likelihood Algorithm• Challenges

- Trial Image Segmentation • E.g. Imagine Objective ext. for Erdas

DELIVERABLES

The project envisions the following results for Vanuatu:• Forest cover based on an approved

national forest definition• Carbon density map for 5 generic forest

strata (medium height forest [open/closed], low forest [open/closed], mangroves)

• Validated forest cover map using very high resolution imageries

THANK YOU