GLAD

Spatially-explicit information on land cover and land use extent and change is required for REDD+ initiatives, comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions estimation, and national land use planning in balancing economic development and the maintenance of ecosystem services. This information is especially important for rapidly developing countries, such as those in South-East Asia. Remotely sensed data provide the only practical way for operational land cover monitoring at national scales. While satellite-based national forest monitoring methods are well established, mapping and monitoring of other land cover classes is in development. All spatially-explicit satellite-based land cover change mapping should be supported by rigorous validation. Ideally, the methods of land cover mapping and validation should be consistent between countries. Our research team proposes to develop and implement a satellite-based land cover and land use change monitoring system for South-East Asian countries including Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. The system will be developed based on our extensive experience with national-to-global scale land cover mapping and product validation, and will be adopted for the specific needs of the selected countries. We will provide all products, source data and mapping algorithms to the SERVIR hub and national agencies responsible for national land cover, forest monitoring and greenhouse emissions reporting, along with training on system implementation and advice on data product use for national greenhouse emission estimation. By the end of the project, all selected countries will have generated national land cover maps and change detection estimates from 2000 to 2015, will be able to implement regular updates of land cover change maps, perform validation, and use the data products for national applications.