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The Forest
Carbon Tracking Task (GEO FCT) has been established to support countries wanting
to establish national forest-change, carbon estimation and reporting systems. It will facilitate access to long-term satellite,
airborne and in situ data, provide the associated analysis and
prediction tools, and create the appropriate framework and technical
standards for a global network of national forest carbon
tracking systems. The task follows the guidelines set out by the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Its outputs
will be available to support interested countries in their efforts to
implement the Convention. The task is being carried out by a
partnership of GEO member governments, key UN bodies, space
agencies, the science community and the private sector.
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What
is GEO? GEO was launched in response to calls for action by the 2002
World Summit on Sustainable Development and by the G8 (Group of Eight)
leading industrialized countries, to coordinate the construction of a
Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), as a way to assist
developed and developing country governments to respond better to
disasters, manage their resources and promote the well-being of their
citizens. Since 2005, the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) has grown to become a partnership between close to 80 governments and 56 leading international organisations.
For more information please see the GEO FCT
Brochure by clicking here.
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The GEO Forest Carbon Tracking Task seeks to:
- Define a
set of standards, methods and requirements that future spatially explicit National Forest Monitoring and Carbon Accounting
Systems could adopt, to provide the most accurate results relying on the full potential
of existing observational and processing capabilities.
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Coordinate the use of data from current and planned Earth
observing satellites operated by GEO member countries to provide the technical capability and continuity to
support the
monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) information required by
future
regulatory frameworks for the inclusion of forests in post-Kyoto
climate
agreements.
- Coordinate the use of in-situ data, models and verification techniques, considered here as essential elements of
future MRV systems.
- Secure time-series of SAR and optical satellite data
and analysis tools, integrated with ecosystem models and in-situ data, that
can be used
interoperably and in complementary ways to support the information
needs of MRV
systems for FCT.
- Appropriate international institutional frameworks, and supporting
data policies allowing open access and application of the supporting satellite
datasets will be essential to secure the sustained supply of information in
support of MRV requirements.
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