Surveys

Aerial Surveys

Current best practices in biomass surveys normally always involve direct field measurement on the ground. However, it is often useful to combine this information with high-resolution digital images of the forest. Forest Carbon offers such images through high resolution aerial photography surveys that can be used to support ground-based biomass data measurements, monitor for illegal logging activities in high-threat areas, or to create a digital mosaic image of an entire project area can be created and provide a basis for biomass estimates across the entire forest area.

Aerial surveys to remote regions in Indonesia can be difficult. A lack of small readily available aircraft such as Cessna 206s makes it difficult to schedule flights. Fuel for these aircraft is also imported and thus not always available. For this reason, Forest Carbon owns and operates its own light aircraft, a German-made Flight Design CTsw. This plane operates on readily sourced domestic fuel, and can be relocated for surveys nearly anywhere Indonesia.

Above are some images from an aerial survey taken in the peat swamp forests of Central Kalimantan Province. A region of vast below-ground biomass stored in peat wetland marshes. In 2005, when these areas are drained and burned for conversion to agriculture, they produce an amount greenhouse gasses (1.5 GtCO2 e) equivalent to the global air and sea transport sector (1.8 GtCO2 equivalent gasses annually).

Ground Surveys and Biomass Inventories

Satellite data can only take us so far in terms of our understanding of a forest area. The visual inspection of a forest area is usually the best (and often only) way to collect primary data about a forest area. Ground-level field surveys can be undertaken for a variety of purposes. Some of the typical purposes of ground surveys are to measure forest biomass, investigate the extent of illegal logging activities, inventory biodiversity, meet with local and forest communities to collect information inside and outside the forest area, to assess the relative importance of different drivers of deforestation and to compare high resolution satellite data with conditions on the ground (“ground-truthing”).

REDD+ project clients are often interested in obtaining accurate carbon values from their project site. This involves ground-level measurement of above and belowground biomass existing inside a client or project proponent’s REDD+ project area. This entails the direct measurement of certain forest parameters such as: tree heights, diameters, canopy sizes, and species identifications.

Depending on the size of a project area, remoteness and forest type, ground surveys usually range from between 1-3 weeks to complete. Normally requiring 7-9 person teams, surveys are ideally comprised of teams of local field staff combined with forestry experts. Forest Carbon is experienced in training local field staff from NGOs and even members of local communities to undertake forest ground surveys for a variety of purposes.

Forest Carbon is also experienced in the mapping of:

• Aboveground forest biomass,
• Belowground peat depths,
• Peat drainage areas and canals, and
• Fire affected areas

These are areas of interest especially for projects involving belowground emissions.