GOFC-GOLD Land Cover & GFOI R&D Science Meeting

The Hague, Netherlands

Meeting Date:

10/31/2016 to 11/04/2016

Meeting Focus:

The Hague, The Netherlands

31 October – 4 November, 2016

Organized by:

The GFOI R&D Coordination component, and the GOFC-GOLD Land Cover Office

Background

Detailed information on the meeting can be found in the Draft announcement

Workshop objectives

The GOFC-GOLD LC-IT and the GFOI R&D Coordination component co-organize this Science meeting to review the recent accomplishments in tropical forest monitoring in the arenas of research, and implementation in developing countries. Specific activities from the GOFC-GOLD LC-IT, GFOI R&D research groups and its partners will be reported. The Science meeting will outline the specific research, applications and development needs that should be targeted by these stakeholders in the future. The Science meeting will be an opportunity for the GOFC-GOLD LC-IT and the GFOI to communicate on its advancements and on its ongoing and potential contributions to a series of international initiatives notably those related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and REDD+. In addition the Symposium will enable the members of the different groups and initiatives to meet other international experts. The outcomes of the meeting will enable the GOFC-GOLD LC-IT, and the GFOI R&D Coordination group, to provide its sponsors with updated scientific and technical information to support internationally coordinated initiatives such as those from the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or those from the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), and GEO as a whole. Detailed objectives of the Science meeting are:

Present, discuss, and synthesize the achievements of the GOFC-GOLD LC-IT, GFOI R&D, and partners like Silvacarbon.
Discuss the new orientations the forest mapping and the global land cover research communities should take after the official launch of the UN SDGs, the outcomes of the UNFCCC COP-21 (Paris Agreement), and the evolving needs for observing land cover as an essential climate variable (ECV).
Review of the internal organization and coordination of the GOFC-GOLD LC-IT, and GFOI R&D Coordination component, but also their respective places and roles in the context of emerging needs related to international policy, on-going and emerging needs of the land and forest cover user communities.