IV international ForestSat conference: "ForestSat 2010: Operational tools in forestry using remote sensing techniques"

Dear colleague,

We are pleased to announce the IV international ForestSat conference: "ForestSat 2010: Operational tools in forestry using remote sensing techniques" organised by the Forest Research (UK) and Land Laboratory (Santiago de Compostela University) which will take place in Lugo (Spain) on the 7th, 8th and 9th of September this year.

ForestSAT has attracted a substantial representation from the scientific, industrial and forest management communities from 32 countries. This event stresses the operational applications of remote sensing based technologies in support of forest management.

The proposed topics in the programme are a living demonstration of how progress in this field is evolving. Most of them are closely aligned to some of the priority areas defined by the European Union such as GMES, Risk Management, Biomass Assessment, Biodiversity and Forest Inventory.  Other topics are associated with international efforts like the UN-REDD programme or GEOSS. The rest are national initiatives such as mapping of vegetation types, biomass estimation, monitoring of changes, forest planning and mapping biodiversity. 

The steering committee has selected a range of keynote speakers that represent our communities.

Pedro Duque, Spain’s first astronaut and director general of DEIMOS Imaging (Spain), gives an overview of how industry is venturing into the development of new systems in space, an area once exclusively supported by government agencies.

Ross Nelson, from the Biospheric Sciences Branch at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (USA), talks about new research projects undertaken there in support of the needs of the US Forest Service in areas like forest monitoring, estimation of carbon, forest inventory and biodiversity.

Manuel Gallego, deputy director of SITGA (Spain), presents a Spanish initiative involving the construction of a national LiDAR coverage as an example followed by several countries that have completed or are planning nationwide LiDAR acquisition. 

 

Ron Eastman, Director of the Clark Labs and the IDRISI project (USA) provides an overview of the development of one of the most popular and inexpensive tools for image processing.

The ForestSAT conferences endeavour to facilitate communication. The venue and structure of this event have been carefully organised to enable the networking and exchange of ideas. Long breaks, visits to the exhibits and poster sessions all provide valuable opportunities for interaction. Some of the most interesting discussion opportunities are the round tables on REDD and Industry.

The REDD forum, chaired by Ron McRoberts (US Forest Services), is an opportunity to review potential achievements in this wide international effort. As well as the tools and data available for delivering the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment, the existence of a widely recognised methodology for reporting on forest degradation and the role of remote sensing in all this process. 

The Industry session, chaired by Juan Suárez (Forest Research, UK), focuses on the existence of adequate tools to address the needs of the forest industry. Panellists discuss their plans, research and development (R&D) programmes, user interactions, links with research organisations and their major contribution to international programmes like REDD and GMES.

The GMES programme has a round table to discuss Geoland 2, GSE Forest Monitoring and the GMES Network of Users. The main aim of this organised discussion is to talk about different options for improving the current users’ network.

These round table discussions will be complemented by a wide range of commercial exhibits, the proceedings book, practical virtual reality demonstrations using a T-Systems large screen and hand-out materials provided by the sponsors.

Long coffee breaks, poster sessions and conference dinner will provide a positive atmosphere for encouraging discussions and interaction.

Finally, this conference offers you the possibility of visiting one of the most interesting parts of Spain and learning about Galicia, its history, culture, traditions, cuisine and people.

For further information about ForestSat 2010, please consult the official conference website: http://forestsat2010.usc.es

We hope all the work we have put together will become an enjoyable personal experience for you. 

Best wishes,

The Organising Committee

New preliminary programme ForestSat 2010:

http://forestsat2010.usc.es/sites/default/files/preliminary-program-forestsat2010.pdf