Forest Monitoring With Earth Observation

A smart monitoring tool for sustainable forest management and timber supply chain in combination with an innovative GPS-based round wood tracking system.

Legal Trading

Strongly reducing the possibilities of fraud in timber trade.

Environmental Impacts Assessment

By satellite-based near real-time monitoring of forest changes.

Illegal Deforestation Detection

Better detection of unauthorised logging operations.

Credibility For Forest Certification

Extra security layer for risk-based auditing and economical inspections.

Forests are home to an abundant biodiversity and one of the most precious ecosystems. Worldwide, up to every third tree is illegally felled. Roundwood with a worth of € 200 billion is produced globally every year. There is a significant lack of effective and digitalized forest monitoring tools with earth observation (EO) that allows detection of illegally selective logging activities as well offers independent spatial forest information for more targeted inspections.

These problems must be solved and can only be achieved through integrating a satellite-based forest monitoring system and an innovative GPS-based round wood tracking system to offer more efficient, cost-effective, and fraud-proof verification tools for sustainable forest certification.

"Earth observation as extra security layer for risk-based auditing and economical inspections."

EO-EnForCe - Earth Observation to Enhance Forest Certification

Introducing our EO-EnForCe project's web-based prototype, designed to monitor both legal and illegal logging activities within certified forest regions. While the project initially aimed for an interactive on-demand service, we've successfully implemented the core components of the processing chain. Our demonstrator showcases results from three pre-selected areas in Borneo, Indonesia, highlighting the alarming deforestation trends and the replacement of rainforests with palm oil plantations.

Utilizing both Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 optical imagery, our system identifies forest disturbances with remarkable accuracy. The demonstrator provides a comprehensive view of initial forest parameters, project results, comparisons with Global Forest Watch products, and filtered Sentinel-2 data for 2022.

Explore the intricate details and witness the power of satellite-based Earth observation in tracking forest cover changes. Dive into the demonstrator here.