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Good practices in sample-based area estimation









Jonckheere, I., Hamilton, R., Michel, J.M. & Donegan, E., eds. 2024. Good practices in sample-based area estimation. White paper. Rome, FAO.




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    REDD+ and greenhouse gas reporting for the agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector requires land use changes to be characterized to estimate the associated greenhouse gas emissions or absorptions. It is becoming increasingly common for countries to track these changes using visually interpreted, sample-based approaches. Known as sample-based area estimation, the technique has been widely used in recent years in the generation of activity data for REDD+ Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV). However, implementing countries and agencies have repeatedly highlighted the lack of guidance on certain frequently encountered issues with this approach. This paper responds to this need for guidance by trying to address the most urgent technical issues faced by countries relating to sample based area estimation. Among others, it tackles issues such as how to best monitor beyond deforestation or for multiple purposes, how to account for variability between interpreters looking at the same satellite image, what type of sample unit to use and how many measurements are needed per sample unit. Existing good practices are consolidated, and new good practices are proposed as solutions where appropriate. The paper also indicates areas of future research, which should be pursued to answer the remaining questions surrounding area estimation. This paper will enable donors, academia, and countries that currently use or that want to use sample based area estimation for generating activity data for REDD+ or for other purposes. This paper is conceived to gain an overview of the most pressing research needs in the area and to delve into current good practice and existing literature. It will give non-experts an overview of area estimation, its applications and limitations. Keywords: area estimation, REDD+, statistics, remote sensing, forest monitoring ID: 3481211
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    For well over a decade, developing countries have been encouraged to undertake activities in their forest sectors that are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also working to conserve, enhance and sustainably manage forest carbon stocks. These activities are known collectively as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+), which was established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This publicatio n provides a status report on progress and achievements related to the MRV of REDD+ activities, as well as an update on activities related to countries’ submissions of their Forest Reference (Emission) Levels (FRELs/FRLs). The report also summarizes experiences with the technical assessment process, as of early 2017, and offers an overview of initial REDD+ results reporting and technical analyses of those reports. Highlights of this report include measures that show a strong uptake of FREL/FRLs among tropical forest countries. FREL/FRLs which have already been submitted involve many of the countries with the largest forest areas, and cover vast amounts of emissions from their forest sectors. There is also progress in areas that are not as easy to quantify: for example, an unprecedented level of transparency has been achieved concerning countries’ forest-sector data and information, thanks to data reporting in the context of REDD+.
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    The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been providing support to member countries on national forest monitoring for decades. Best practices and lessons learned from this support are summarized in FAO´s Voluntary guidelines on national forest monitoring (VGNFM). The guidelines provide principles, elements and best practices for the establishment and implementation of a multipurpose National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS). The aim of this paper is to strengthen the elements and guidelines provided in the VGNFM in the context of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). It also includes a deeper analysis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change decisions and the most recent methodological recommendations provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, focusing on the three pillars of an NFMS for REDD+: a Satellite Land Monitoring System, a National Forest Inventory, and REDD+ reporting, including the combination of remote-sensing and ground-based forest inventory to estimate anthropogenic forest related Greenhouse Gas emissions by sources and removals by sinks.

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