Global Monitoring for the Environment and Security (GMES), is a joint initiative of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission (EC). The GMES Service Element on Forest Monitoring (GSE FM) which has been led by GAF AG since 2003 has aimed at providing operational forest services to the forest user community by including them in the design and implementation of the services. One of the main policy segments that the GSE FM supports is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its related Kyoto Protocol. Since 2006, GSE FM became involved in the post-Kyoto Protocol policy process “Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation” (REDD) in developing countries. Thus a REDD Pilot Project was initiated in Cameroon in 2007, with stakeholder endorsement and financing from ESA, the German Development Bank-KfW and GTZ. The REDD service for Cameroon offered important deforestation assessment information for the country based on forest maps for 1990, 2000 and 2005/6 using national (wall-to-wall) EO data coverage; furthermore methods for undertaking a national biomass inventory were developed and capacity building/technology transfer to the counerparts was undertaken. Read More
