GOFC-GOLD is a panel of GTOS (Global Terrestrial Observing System) and its overall objective is to improve the quality and availability of observations of forests and land cover at regional and global scales and to produce useful, timely and validated information products from these data for a wide variety of users.

Sourcebook of methods and procedures for monitoring, measuring and reporting

This sourcebook  is the outcome of an ad-hoc REDD working group of GOFC-GOLD (Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics) that has been active since the initiation of the UNFCCC REDD process in 2005.  It provides a consensus perspective from the global community of earth observation and carbon experts on methodological issues relating to quantifying carbon impacts of implementation activities to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation in developing countries (REDD). 

The Sourcebook is now available under the Doha COP 18 Version.  It is to be understood as a living document.  Further methods and technical details can be specified and added with evolving political negotiations and decisions.  Respective communities are invited to provide comments and feedback to evolve a more detailed and refined technical-guidelines document in the future.

An Assessment of National Forest Monitoring Capabilities in Tropical Non-Annex I Countries:  Recommendations for Capacity Building (1326 kB)

In partnership with the Government of Norway, GOFC-GOLD has carried out a study to understand the needs to monitor REDD in the world's tropical forests.  This study examines, in 99 tropical non-Annex I countries, the current monitoring capabilities and the availability of remote sensing data and makes specific recommendations for the near term capacity development activities that would be required to implement an accurate forest area change and carbon monitoring system. Link to study website.

Additional publications

A. Angelsen, M. Brockhaus, W. D. Sunderlin, & L. V. Verchot  (2012). Analysing REDD+ - Challenges and choices. CIFOR report. Bogor, Indonesia.

Herold, M., Román-Cuesta, R. M., Mollicone, D., Hirata, Y., Van Laake, P., Asner, G. P., Souza, C., et al. (2011). Options for monitoring and estimating historical carbon emissions from forest degradation in the context of REDD+. Carbon balance and management, 6(13), 1–7. doi:10.1186/1750-0680-6-13

Herold, M., & Skutsch, M. (2011). Monitoring, reporting and verification for national REDD + programmes: two proposals. Environmental Research Letters, 6, 014002.

Hosonuma, N., Herold, M., De Sy, V., De Fries, R. S., Brockhaus, M., Verchot, L., Angelsen, A., et al. (2012). An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 044009 (12pp). doi:10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/044009

Kissinger, G., Herold, M., & De Sy, V. (2012). Drivers of Deforestation and Forest Degradation: A Synthesis Report for REDD+ Policymakers (p. 26). Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Mora, B., Herold, M., De Sy., V., Wijaya, A., Verchot, L. and Penman, J. (2012) Capacity development in national forest monitoring: Experiences and progress for REDD+. Joint report by CIFOR and GOFC-GOLD. Bogor, Indonesia.