Remote sensing tools for conservation policy: The Integrated Forest Monitoring System for Central Africa (INFORMS) and the Protected Area Watch in the Albertine Rift (PAWAR)

In the absence of conservation action, the biological diversity of forests worldwide will continue to be degraded. Many African countries have adopted national plans for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management, but most lack basic information on the rates and extent of environmental change required for effective decision making and conservation policies. Space-based earth monitoring technologies can provide detailed analyses of the state of tropical ecosystems. We will discuss two projects designed to support the development of operational remote sensing and geographic information system tools adapted to conservation and forest management needs.  The “Integrated Forest Monitoring System for Central Africa” (INFORMS) and “Protected Area Watch in the Albertine Rift” (PAWAR) projects incorporate research findings into national park and forest management plans. PAWAR focuses on the greater Albertine ecosystem, which contains some of Africa’s greatest biodiversity extending across more than 330,000 km² of 6 countries (Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Zambia). The INFORMS project is focused on Africa’s entire tropical forest region (including Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Cameroon, and the Democratic republic of Congo).  The management decisions taking place today in these ecosystems that are threatened by human migration, logging and industrial agriculture, will have far reaching effects on how African tropical biodiversity and associated economic activities will fare in the future.