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Legal and sustainable timber, pulp and paper and palm oil production monitoring

Legal and sustainable forest management

Regular analysis of ERS and / or ASAR imagery could be applied for frequent localisation of forest activities and timely detection and identification of areas for fast response on the ground. However, forest areas are often very large and inaccessible or fragmented into a large number of areas, making them difficult to administer effectively. In many countries, there is a lack of personnel, infrastructure and equipment, hampering adequate policing and supervision of logging activities. What little is available may much more efficiently be put into action using up-to-date remotely sensed information.

Regular analysis of ERS and / or ASAR imagery makes effective tracing of development of major disturbances possible:

  • location of new logging roads
  • degree of change in canopy cover associated with logging
  • settlement and agricultural expansion into forested areas
  • mining operations
  • fire susceptibility and fire damage

In addition, regrowth of forest can be observed in ERS images, which may be of importance to monitor forest rehabilitation obligations.

Legal and sustainable plantation establishment and management

The establishment and management of industrial timber, pulp and paper, oil palm, soy, and tea and coffee plantations has frequently been linked with illegal logging, deforestation, forest fires and conflict with local communities over land. Widespread plantation expansion represents an important threat to wildlife habitat. Rising concern of civil society that not all plantations are established and managed sustainably could present a risk to the industry if not addressed. Investors, producers and retailers increasingly recognise these concerns and have begun developing voluntary codes of conduct in several sectors.

SarVision is currently working with the industry to provide critical (spatial) information to effectively take up two main challenges:

  • The sound selection of appropriate lands for establishing new plantations
  • The monitoring of sustainable management of existing plantations

Our monitoring systems can provide regular information on the implementation of voluntary principles and criteria on a transparent basis, making it accountable to all stakeholders.