Project News

For the three day period extending from Sept. 26th to 28th, a training was held in Hanoi on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) based tool for improvement of reporting accuracy of the forest change monitoring activities.

34 participants in total attend the training session among the several target groups, namely both the central and regional offices of the Forest Protection Department (FPD), the Management Board for Forestry Projects (MBFPs) at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), and the 16 provincial FPD offices which have introduced the provincial forest monitoring system (PFMS) based on tablet PCs and its application.

The Vietnamese government's FRMS activities are composed of two main components: the central database to manage forest resource information whose establishment was supported by the Finnish initiative FORMIS project; and also the in-field activities to monitor forests operated by forest rangers with the support of our project. As reported in the previous newsletters, the PFMS developed in our project has been replicated already in 16 provinces including the five directly supported by our project (Lai Châu, Sơn La, Điện Biên, Hoà Bình, and Lâm Đồng), in collaboration with the projects of other donors such as FCPF2 (World Bank), UN-REDD2 (UNDP/FAO/UNEP), Vietnam Forest and Delta, and Green Annamites (USAID).

This time, the training focused on the supporting tool for the rangers' in-field activities to monitor forest. Developed based on the free access GEE, this tool makes it possible to remotely detect and spot potential deforestation sites once difficult to monitor by rangers, which can potentially lead to the improved accuracy of annual forest monitoring reports. Numerous feedbacks obtained from the pilot field use in some provinces have also contributed to production of the recent version, thus attracting keen interests especially by the central FPD in its functions.

The training curriculum was structured with special emphasis on the practical usage of tool, with lectures on the position of the GEE tool within the FRMS and importance of improving accuracy of forest monitoring. Especially from the provincial participants raised were the questions regarding its detailed usage and occasions to apply the tool. Not only the project staff but also the staff of the Department of Information and Data (DID) at the FPD were actively answering the raised questions. Such active participation of both the counterpart staff and trainees is indeed the key for a meaningful training.

Now we are about to work on the national budget and roadmap planning with the FPD and the other stakeholders towards the nation-wide replication of our FRMS including this GEE tool.

Training session

Exercise on GEE tool; DID and project staff members assisting provincial FPD staff member

FPD local officer raising a question

Closing words by MBFPs Deputy Mr. Thang