JICA Follow-up Cooperation on Remote Sensing of Forest Resources completed

In the period of March 27-31, 2023, JICA held an intensive training on digital forest map creation for the State Agency "Moldsilva" and the Institute of Forest Research and Management (ICAS) in Chisinau, Moldova.

This activity is one of the actions undertaken by JICA to support the Forestry sector and a respective National Program in the sector of Moldova. Taking into account global trends and local needs, Moldovan Government is aiming at digitalizing the available forest resources in Moldova in order to ensure proper evidence and management. After a range of close discussions with Moldovan colleagues, in order to address the issue, JICA decided to provide them with the necessary equipment as well as a practical training opportunity considering Moldovan contexts and situations by dispatching a Japanese expert, Dr. Takahiro Endo.

Ten specialists from two Moldovan organizations participated in the training, four out of which, have previously participated in JICA KCCP course "Remote Sensing of Forest Resources" in 2022. During the training program, Dr. Endo has introduced how to effectively utilize satellite data and QGIS and how to do vector processing and spatial analysis. Specifically, the specialists of the two institutions learned how to download the satellite images by developing programming codes in Java, and how to download land use images which allows visualizing changes in forest areas. Another aspect learned was the selection of satellite images on a specific area near the border of the Republic of Moldova, converting the coordinate system from WGS-84 to Moldref 99.

The knowledge and skills acquired during the program were highly appreciated by the Moldovan counterparts. The participants said "it was very useful for our work as we now know how to utilize Google Earth Engine that provides free of charge satellite Images and has fast and powerful processing capabilities over large-scale areas.

In addition, before the training program being implemented, JICA donated critical equipment such as high-spec workstation and a laptop to ICAS in February to help create an enabling work environment for a better forest monitoring.

Moldovan counterparts expressed their gratitude for the training and equipment and wish to continue the cooperation with JICA for strengthening forest monitoring capability by learning Japan's experience, technologies and know-how in observing forests from space.