Collect Earth, an open-source data-collection tool that uses satellite imagery to track change in rural landscapes, can make monitoring forest and landscape restoration easier for local experts.

Join WRI and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) for the launch of a new guidebook, Mapping Together, that helps people use this program to produce locally relevant, actionable data on land use/land cover, tree cover and count, tree spatial pattern, and the added value that restoration can bring people and the environment.

Collect Earth experts from El Salvador, Ethiopia, and India will present how they have brought local people together through mapathons, or collaborative mapping sessions. These mapathons present an opportunity to involve local stakeholders and people familiar with the landscape as data collectors and interpreters, which increases the data’s accuracy and helps local experts own the findings and the resulting products.

The event will conclude with a panel discussion on the importance of locally produced and owned data for measuring the impact of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030).

Presentations

  • Christophe Besacier, Senior Forestry Officer, FAO
  • Carolina Gallo Grazino, Consultant, Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism, FAO
  • Dr. Bernadette Arakwiye, Research Associate, Forests Program, WRI
  • Giovanni Molina, Geoenvironmental Information Systems Manager, Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, El Salvador
  • Zelalem Tadele, Lecturer, Wondo Genet College of Forestry, Ethiopia
  • John Brandt, Data Science Associate, WRI

Panel

  • Dow Martin, Manager, Global Restoration Initative, WRI | Moderator
  • Christophe Besacier, Senior Forestry Officer, FAO
  • Marie Duraisami, Manager, Sustainable Landscapes and Restoration, WRI India
  • Julian Fox, Senior Forestry Officer, FAO
  • Dr. Parth Sarathi Roy, Senior Fellow, Sustainable Landscapes and Restoration, WRI India