Protecting the Peruvian rainforest in the face of land use and climate change
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: Sch of Geography
Abstract
The Peruvian Rainforest cover 661,000 km2 of mostly undisturbed rainforest and recent estimates suggest that this region contains about 9,400 species of trees. However, only 31% of the Peruvian rainforest is under some type of protection. In view of the increasing pressures to this ecosystem, including selective logging, land clearing for palm oil plantations and other uses, road development and climate change, it is important to reflect on how much of Peruvian tree biodiversity is effectively protected by its current network of protected areas (PAs), and where establishment of new PAs should be prioritized.
This studentship will combine recent analytical developments in predicting species richness from sparse alpha- and beta-diversity information and a dataset of 42 forest plots in the Peruvian Amazon collected by RAINFOR (Amazon Forest Inventory Network), a project led by the School of Geography at the University, and augmented potentially by data from 115 other census plots in Peru. The impacts of past and future deforestation on tree species biodiversity will be examined using Dinamica EGO, a dynamic land use/land cover (LULC) modelling software developed at the University of Minas Gerais; the project will benefit from an active collaboration with the Brazilian developers.
This studentship will combine recent analytical developments in predicting species richness from sparse alpha- and beta-diversity information and a dataset of 42 forest plots in the Peruvian Amazon collected by RAINFOR (Amazon Forest Inventory Network), a project led by the School of Geography at the University, and augmented potentially by data from 115 other census plots in Peru. The impacts of past and future deforestation on tree species biodiversity will be examined using Dinamica EGO, a dynamic land use/land cover (LULC) modelling software developed at the University of Minas Gerais; the project will benefit from an active collaboration with the Brazilian developers.
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NE/S007458/1 | 01/09/2019 | 30/09/2027 | |||
| 1652342 | Studentship | NE/S007458/1 | 01/01/2016 | 15/11/2022 | Joana Lisboa Brandao De Melo |
| Description | The manuscript entitled "Striking divergences in Earth Observation products may limit their use for REDD+" was accepted and published in Environmental Research Letters in October 2018. This manuscript shows that national-level estimates of historical CO2 emissions vary greatly when combining maps of deforestation and carbon stocks derived from different, widely available, remote sensing-based products. This result is highly relevant in the context of the efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), since accurate spatially explicit information of historical emissions is crucial for guiding the design of appropriate policy options, measuring results from implemented strategies and justifying results-based payments. Overall, this study provides important insights into how publicly available remote sensing products, which are attractive options for supporting REDD+ in many countries, perform at national scales. This work shows that relying on these datasets, particularly for deforestation, is only possible if these are rigorously validated by each country. This issue is particularly important now, because countries are currently developing their national REDD+ strategies, submitting their baselines of historical emissions (or forest reference emission levels) and measuring the results of the success, or failure, of their policies to halt forest loss. The focus of the study are the forest systems of Guinea Bissau, which exemplify the range of forest types and lack of forest monitoring capacity that is found across Sub-Saharan Africa. I performed this study by using a unique compilation of global deforestation and above-ground biomass datasets, obtained with state-of-the-art automated methods, national land-cover maps, and extensive field-based carbon measurements of over 300 plots.. |
| Exploitation Route | Results from this publication and meetings with Guinea-Bissau Government negotiators during COP23 (which I attended while on placement at the UNFCCC secretariat) led to the submission of the REDD+ Forest Reference Emission Level (FREL) to the UNFCCC in the context of results-based payments from REDD+ activities. The proposed FREL was submitted in January 2019 and will be subject to a technical assessment under the Convention during the present year. This is a technical requirement to receive results-based payments from the implementation of activities to reduce deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+, a mechanism included in the Paris Agreement in the context of mitigation to climate change). The technical assessment will be undertaken by two experts from the UNFCCC roster and will be facilitated by the secretariat. My publication (Melo et al., 2018) was cited in the FREL to support some technical decisions. I was invited by the country to represent the technical team during the technical assessment. I had been previously (2018) nominated by Guinea-Bissau as a REDD+ expert to the UNFCCC roster of experts |
| Sectors | Environment |
| URL | https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aae3f8 |
| Description | My research (Melo et al., 2018) was cited in the Forest Reference level of Guinea-Bissau submitted to the UNFCCC in the context of receiving REDD+ results-based payments (https://redd.unfccc.int/submissions.html?country=gnb). The paper was quoted to justify choosing to do a validation exercise for land use change and correction of estimated deforestation areas: "When comparing national AD estimates with available global data sets of forest-cover changes, big differences are found (Melo et al. 2018). While these disagreements don't mean lack of accuracy of the produced estimates, they highlight possible limitations of the satellite data used. To address these possible limitations and produce more accurate AD estimates, the methodology described in Olofsson et al. (2014) was followed to adjust the estimates using the classification errors (described in section 3.3.1.3)" Due to the expertise gained through my awards I: * was nominated a REDD+ expert by the Government of Guinea-Bissau to be included in the Roster of Experts to the UNFCCC * I was invited by Guinea-Bissau to be the contact person during the technical assessment of the proposed FREL during the technical assessment facilitated by the UNFCCC secretariat * In recognition of my expertise and experience relating to the review of land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) greenhouse gas inventories and assessment of data and information on this sector and as an expert nominated to the UNFCCC roster of experts I was invited by the secretariat to take part in the 2020 technical assessment session of proposed forest reference emission levels as a member of the assessment team. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
| Sector | Environment |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | Citation in Guinea-Bissau's proposed Forest Reference Emission Level submitted to the UNFCCC in the context of receiving results based payments from REDD+ activities |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | https://redd.unfccc.int/files/2019_submission_frel_guinea-bissau.pdf |
| Description | NCEO and UKSA contribution to the CEOS AFOLU roadmap and CEOS input to the Global Stocktake |
| Organisation | National Centre for Earth Observation |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The objective is to support the development of the UKSA contribution to COP 26 and more generally to provide a clear UK input to the CEOS strategy to contribute to the Global Stocktake process under the UNFCCC, in particular the first Global Stocktake. The contribution of the proposed work is twofold. Firstly (1), it will provide evidence of the existing use of EO satellite data and derived products in reporting under the UNFCCC. Secondly (2), to support the efforts to engage with countries to showcase the value of EO satellite data and derived products for reporting emissions and removals from the AFOLU sector |
| Collaborator Contribution | expertise as producers of satellite-derived products to measure land-use change and biomass at the global level expertise in remote sensing methods to tailor global products to national circumstances access to countries' technical teams for GHG inventory reports (through GFOI and SylvaCarbon) |
| Impact | calls with 1) the CEOS AFOLU team, 2) Sylvacarbon to prepare calls with country officials disciplines involved: remote sensing, GHG inverted models |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Poster presentation at the Living Planet Symposium 2016 (Prague, May 2016) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This event was organized by the European Space Agency (ESA) and with some 3000 participants it was the largest event in Earth Observation ever organised by ESA. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://lps16.esa.int/page_session187.php#2204p |
| Description | presentation at ForestSAT 2022 - special session on satellite data for assessing forest-related GHG emissions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | speaker at a scientific conference in a special session led by WRI: Satellite data for assessing forest-related GHG emissions: progress on national and international reporting and the way forward. Title of the presentation: Key messages from REDD+ MRV on the role of satellite data and derived products in supporting contributions from theland use sector to the Global Stocktake |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.forestsat2022.com/special-sessions-2/ |
| Description | presentation at the ESA Living Planet Symposium 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | presentation: CEOS biomass harmonization . A collaborative effort between global and national biomass monitoring experts |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://lps22.esa.int/living-planet-22-archive-website/ |
| Description | presentation to the UNFCCC Mitigation and Data Analysis Programme staff |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This presentation was organized to give an overview of concepts and methodologies used as well as the current state of the art and visible trends in submitted REDD+ Forest Reference Levels. Opportunities and limitations in the use of remote sensing technologies for REDD+ were also demonstrated. The three members of staff from the Sectoral Approaches unit (within MDA programme) were better informed of the methodologies and trends from all submitted FRLs instead of only those they closely supervise. This led to better management of each individual submission in the sense that the same criteria were used for all. This presentation was also very useful to enlighten all Mitigation and Data Analysis Programme staff of the particularities of REDD+ and FRLs submissions and technical assessment process |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |