ERS-SAR Application 1

Tropical and sub-equatorial forest management and deforestation evaluation

APPLICATION AREA       GEOGRAPHIC ZONE (EXAMPLE)               CLIMATIC ZONE

Forestry               Gabon, Equatorial Guinea         Tropical and sub-tropical
                                                                   regions  

ECONOMIC VALUE
Tropical forests are one of the major sources of income for countries like Gabon or the Congo. Forested regions have enormous potential, but are not covered by regular topographic mapping. Thematic maps are also lacking. Effective management of these forest ecosystems is essential, in particular to limit uncontrolled clearing.

ENVIRONMENTAL VALUE
Part of the forests were classified as biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1988. For example, the Mayombe forest in the Congo has very high botanical value.

POLITICAL VALUE
More and more governments in Central Africa tend to give clearing permits to private companies in order to reduce their deficits. For both parties an evaluation of the resource before, during and after exploitation is of great importance.

TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY
Forest monitoring with radar data (ERS-SAR) in tropical areas has always remained a dream for the remote sensing community due to the heavy cloud cover in the regions concerned. Current results indicate that forest detection is mainly dependent on the topography (the stronger the relief, the less chance of working with ERS-SAR). Good interpretations could be achieved for selected regions in South America and West Africa.

RELIABLE PROCESSING METHODS
In various studies (e.g. TREES) it could be shown that, a priori, the identification of forested areas is possible. The interpretation mainly relies on the detection of forested areas in contrast to non-forested areas.