Ukraine Participates in the Plenary Meeting of the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI)

Representatives of the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine held a series of working meetings with international partners during the GFOI plenary and thematic sessions in Indonesia, discussing current issues in forest monitoring and climate change.

The Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) coordinates international support to enhance forest and carbon monitoring capacities. The GFOI plenary meeting is the main gathering of experts from around the world working in the field of forest monitoring.

«About 1,300 experts from more than 80 countries took part in the GFOI plenary meeting. Specialists convened to align approaches to the use of satellite and ground-based data for forest monitoring, analyze data gaps, harmonize terminology, and support participating countries in preparing reports under international frameworks», - explained Ihor Budzinskyi, Head of the Forest Management and Reforestation Department.

He added that during working meetings with international partners, the participants discussed the integration of Earth Observation (EO) with field data from the National Forest Inventory. In particular, special attention was paid to the following aspects:

• official global indicators of forest area, biomass stocks, and carbon;
• practices for integrating ground-based measurements with Earth Observation;
• modern solutions for fire monitoring;
• coordination and openness of data.

«Participants of the GFOI plenary meeting agreed that different forest monitoring streams need to be integrated into a single, comprehensive framework. This will make it possible to align methodologies, harmonize reporting, and ensure data interoperability and transparency», - summarized Ihor Budzinskyi.

It should be recalled that GFOI supports countries in developing forest monitoring systems that help inform national-level decision-making, enable the fulfillment of international commitments, and track progress in combating climate change. The initiative is led by representatives of the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, and Australia.