UN body to carry out survey of world's vital ecosystems

New York, July 17 (PTI) In order to gain a comprehensive
understanding of world's forest, the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organisation (F.A.O.) intends to carry out a
global remote sensing survey of the vital ecosystems.
"The need to improve national forest monitoring is
Greater as the demand for information is overwhelming," Jan
Heino, Assistant Director-General for Forestry, F.A.O. said.
F.A.O. and its partners will jointly prepare the next
Global Forest Resources Assessment (F.R.A.), a comprehensive
data collection on the state of the world's forests – to be
r eleased in 2010 – that will strengthen the capacity of all
countries to monitor their own forests.
As part of the effort, they will undertake a global
remote sensing survey of forests that will greatly enhance
knowledge on land use change, including deforestation,
reforestation and natural expansion of forests.
"Deforestation continues at an alarming rate of about 13
million hectares annually at the global level," noted Heino.
"By combining remote sensing technology with field data
collection, we improve the quality of both methods. This
provides more accurate information on forest trends and new
information on the drivers of deforestation and forest
degradation," Heino stated.
The assessment will cover the whole land surface of the
Earth with about 9,000 samples.
F.A.O. has been supporting countries to monitor their
forests through initiatives such as the agency's national
forest monitoring and assessment (N.F.M.A.) programme, which
involves a global network of forest monitoring specialists in
176 countries who share information and experiences, as well
as national experts who lead the assessments.