Training on GIS and Remote Sensing for Sustainable Forest Monitoring and Management

Module 1: Introduction to GIS, Remote Sensing & Forest Monitoring

• GIS & RS fundamentals in forestry

• Importance of geospatial tools for sustainable forest management

• Case Study: Global Forest Watch applications

Module 2: Data Acquisition & Preprocessing for Forest Studies

• Sources of forest-related satellite imagery (Landsat, Sentinel, MODIS)

• Pre-processing techniques: atmospheric correction, mosaicking, clipping

• Practical: Downloading and preparing Landsat/Sentinel imagery

Module 3: Forest Cover Mapping & Classification

• Supervised & unsupervised classification techniques

• Forest/non-forest mapping

• Practical: Land cover classification in QGIS/ArcGIS

Module 4: Deforestation & Degradation Monitoring

• Change detection methods

• Time-series analysis for forest loss trends

• Case Study: Amazon rainforest deforestation monitoring

Module 5: Biomass and Carbon Stock Estimation

• RS approaches for biomass and carbon assessment

• Use of LiDAR and radar data

• Practical: Estimating carbon stock with RS data

Module 6: Biodiversity and Habitat Mapping with GIS/RS

• Species distribution modeling

• Habitat fragmentation analysis

• Case Study: GIS-based biodiversity corridors management

Module 7: Forest Fire Monitoring and Early Warning Systems

• RS for fire detection and burned area assessment

• Integration of weather data with GIS for fire risk mapping

• Practical: Mapping hotspots using MODIS/VIIRS data

Module 8: Community-Based Forest Management & GIS Tools

• Participatory mapping and community involvement

• Integrating socio-economic data with geospatial layers

• Case Study: GIS for community forest monitoring in East Africa

Module 9: Policy Applications – REDD+, SDGs & Climate Reporting

• GIS/RS for REDD+ MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, Verification)

• Forest monitoring indicators for SDG 13 (climate) and SDG 15 (life on land)

• Practical: Setting up MRV frameworks with GIS

Module 10: Integrated Project & Presentations

• Group project: mapping and analyzing forest change in a case region

• Presentation of results and discussion

• Case Study: National Forest Monitoring Systems (NFMS) best practices