Bolivia update. Eric Armijo

1. November 2011
Photo: Pantropical scholars, Woods
Hole Research Center Staff, and Visi>ng
Instructors from September, 2011
workshop at WHRC.
Updates from!
• Bolivia!
• Zambia!
• Colombia!
• Indonesia!
Scholar Biographies!
The workshop sessions are aimed at providing methodologies for measuring and monitoring forest
carbon, thereby providing countries with the confidence and technical autonomy necessary to
administer their own, successful projects. The goal of the scholar program is to expand the reach of our
science by transforming the students into teachers, giving them the confidence and technical exper>se
they need to be effec>ve leaders when they return home.
The scholar program represents a unique South‐South network of technicians from NGOs, indigenous
groups, and government agencies. Technical workshops are a forum for exchanging informa>on on
forest monitoring tools and techniques while discussing their relevance for improved forest and carbon
management in the context of interna>onal climate policies. AGer several years of training with WHRC
staff, the most advanced scholars are teaching their own workshops, joining WHRC as instructors all
over the tropics, and mee>ng with na>onal and interna>onal policy‐makers to advise them on the most
advanced approaches for carbon measurement and monitoring.
Scholar News
November 2011 Page 1

2. Bolivia Zambia
Eric Armijo Abel Siample & Sitwala Wamunyima
The past weeks I have focused my aSen>on on On 27th September 2011 (a day aGer arriving from
applying the “image segmenta>on & random WHRC – USA), I was requested by the Directorate
forest (IS & RF)” approach to detect forest changes of Environment and Natural Resources in the
in the Bolivian Amazon. Along this line, two main Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural
ac>vi>es were developed: a one‐day course to Resources to aSend a technical commiSee
train FAN‐Bolivia staff and the assessment of the mee>ng for the West Lunga Carbon Project
technique to produce a deforesta>on map. spearheaded by the Zambia Wildlife Authority
(ZAWA). My main role in this mee>ng was to
providing technical guidance in planning and
execu>ng of a forest resource assessment meant
to collect data and generate informa>on on the
carbon storage and sequestra>on poten>al for
the project area. The project area covers an area
of 600,000 ha in extent and lies in the
Northwestern province of Zambia with rela>vely
high biomass content due to high forest cover
density (above 70% canopy cover).
Image shows material developed to train FAN‐Bolivia staff in the IS
& RF approach to detect forest change
The course provided an opportunity to adapt the
exis>ng training material (presenta>on, script and
dataset) to a Spanish‐speaking audience. A study
area in Bolivia was picked to exemplify the use of
tools and methods.
Having performed a series of assessments to the IS On 3rd October
& RF technique, it was found suitable to update a 2011, I conducted
land cover change map for a 2.8 million hectares a technical
area in the Bolivian Amazon. The new 2008‐2010 presenta>on
deforesta>on map is currently being refined and before senior
will support monitoring ac>vi>es for a REDD+ Pilot management in the Ministry including
Program project. representa>ves from the coopera>ng partners (i.e.
Keep up with scholar news by liking us United Na>ons Development Program, Food and
on Facebook. Find us at “Woods Hole Agriculture Organiza>on, Finnish Embassy and
Pantropical Forest Monitoring Network.” ! European union). My presenta>on (cont. p.3)…
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November 2011 Page 2

3. Zambia (con=nued)
Abel Siample & Sitwala Wamunyima
was based on lessons learnt at WHRC specifically on mapping of biomass (for carbon accoun>ng) and
forest cover change.
On 7th October 2011, I led 3 field teams of Forest Ecologists, Soil Scien>sts and Wildlife Scouts into the
field to conduct a forest inventory for 5 weeks. The target was collect data (field training data) from 300
plots including some established following GLAS shot foot prints. We have just completed the exercise
and I will be gekng to the office next Monday 14th November 2011.
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Indonesia ensure the sustainability of the environment and
the people’s welfare. For this purpose I intend to
Virni Budi Arifan=
AGer my return from the Woods Hole Research use Dinamica EGO soGware for landcover change
modeling which I have learned in WHRC.
Center, I have done some field works for my
rou>ne research ac>vity in my ins>tu>on, in Con=nued p. 4...
Forest Research and Development Agency,
Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia. I went to
Bangka island for conduc>ng research to analyze
the driver of landcover and landuse change on a
very degraded watershed due to vast mining
explora>on. The objec>ve of this research is to
analyze how the watershed should be managed
by considering the local community’s livelihood
which was benefited by the presence of the
mining companies and how this landcover/
landuse change can be modeled in the future to Photo: Abandoned mining area
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November 2011 Page 3

4. Indonesia (con=nued)
Virni Budi Arifan=
In the upcoming months, I am asked by my supervisor to do biomass and emission mapping in Meru
Be>ri Na>onal Park. At this >me we are s>ll searching on the best satellite imageries with high
resolu>on and low cloud cover over the area. I intend to use the method that I have learned in WHRC
on biomass and emission mapping. I also hope to s>ll be get in touch with the WHRC team for any
ques>ons or advise regarding the mapping techniques.
Thank you WHRC!
___________
Visit our Pantropical Education and
Capacity Building Web Page: http://
www.whrc.org/education/
capacitybldg.html!
___________
Colombia
Edersson Cabrera, Paola Giraldo, &
Diana Vargas
In the context of the project "Enabling the Photo: Virni and colleagues in the field
___________
Technical Ins>tu>onal Capacity to Support REDD
projects in Colombia", the Hydrology,  Semi automa>c algorithms test in order to
Meteorology and Environmental Studies Ins>tute classify op>cal and RADAR images with
of Colombia ‐ IDEAM, in partners with The Woods Random Forest
Hole Research Center ‐WHRC, has worked this  Semi automa>c algorithms test in order to
two last years in ac>vi>es to support Colombia es>mate Carbon stocks using coarse resolu>on
capaci>es in the monitoring of forest cover, images (eg. MODIS) cont. p. 5 …
including deforesta>on quan>fica>on and
es>ma>on of Carbon stocks with digital
processing of satellite Op>cal images and Radar
images.
Both ins>tu>ons have developed together the
following ac>vi>es:
 Par>cipa>on of the IDEAM professional
research team in the WHRC capacity annual
programs.
 Pre processing of RADAR images, using the
WHRC's WHIPS capacity.
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5. Colombia (Con=nued)
Edersson Cabrera, Paola Giraldo, &
Diana Vargas
Specifically, the IDEAM has been benefited from
WHRC's technical capacity throughout their
technical developments to improve the mapping
of forest ‐ non forest in the Pacific region of
Colombia. There is frequent the presence of
clouds, shades, mist and / or haze, which cannot
be recognized in op>cal sensors. In this way, in
2011 were implemented the use of ALOS PALSAR images (FBS and FBD modes) in the Pacific region in
order to map this area. In comparison, it was possible to cover the 99.08 percent of this area in 2010
while in 2005 only a 75 percent of it was covered.
Working together has let a feedback of technical experiences for both teams, iden>fying new technical
possibili>es of work collabora>on. For IDEAM, this kind of inves>ga>on alliances has shown the
usefulness to improve the technical capaci>es and we hope to con>nue with this sort of ac>vi>es.
___________________________________________________
Virni Budi Aifan=
Mrs. Arifan> is a remote sensing scien>st at Research Center for Climate Change and Forest Policy, Ministry of
Forestry of Indonesia. Her research interests focus on monitoring land cover, land cover change, forest carbon,
landscape analysis, and adapta>on strategies of forest communi>es to climate change at several ecosystems.
She holds her Bachelor degree in Forest Management from Bogor Agricultural Ins>tute in Bogor, Indonesia, and
her MSc in Forestry majoring Spa>al Informa>on Techniques in Ghent University, Belgium. Before joining the
Ministry of Forestry, she worked at Center for Interna>onal Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Bogor, Indonesia, the
European Union for Forest Inventory and Monitoring Project in Jakarta, and PT. Surveyor Indonesia in Jakarta,
Indonesia.
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Eric Armijo
Mr. Armijo, land change analyst at FAN‐Bolivia, is interested in the use of geospa>al techniques to characterize
and model land use an land change processes in tropical regions of Bolivia, South America. He is currently in
charge of building deforesta>on baselines for a REDD program in the Bolivian Amazon. Mr. Armijo holds a B.S. in
computer science from UPSA University in Bolivia and a M.A. in geography from the University of Maryland,
College Park (US).
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6. Mike Chirwa
Mr. Chirwa works for Forestry Research Ins>tute of Malawi (FRIM), Malawi, as a resource monitoring officer. He
is currently working on various programs within Malawi, one of which is Lake Chilwa Basin Climate Change
Adapta>on Programme (LCBCCAP) in Southern Malawi where his responsibility is to monitor forest cover,
biomass, and carbon stock change. He has also been engaged in in‐country simula>on and pilo>ng of carbon
financing programmes such as REDD (e.g Nkuwazi in Northern Malawi). In his MSc., he looked at an important
mul>‐purpose fruit tree species in Southern Africa, Uapaca kirkiana, some its provenances and families, and
their poten>al to sequester carbon. His research areas of interest include allometry, policy‐resource scenario
simula>on and land cover change.
___________
Paola Giraldo
Ms. Giraldo is a Forest Engineer whose interestes focus on the use of remote sensing for the mapping of land
cover, land cover change, mul>temporal analyse, and zonifica>on of protected areas applying mul>criteria
analyses. She has been working at the Ins>tute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Enviromental Studies, Colombia
since June 2010 and before She worked on land cover classifica>on for natural strategic areas in some of the
Natura Funda>on – Colombia projects.
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Andreana Paola Mekui Biyogo
Ms. Mekui Biyogo works currently like research officer in charge of REDD+ and CDM at Forest department in
Gabon. With a degree in forest sciences from ENEF, a Diploma in Geoma>cs from Omar Bongo University and a
Master degree in remote sensing of forest resources from University of Moncton. She is Forest Engineer,
specialist of remote sensing (small‐footprint airborne LIDAR, Op>cal). She used to work with WWF, for several
years like GIS Officer of the Minkebe program. Her last posi>on at WWF has been the Regional Coordinator of
the first pilot project of community forestry in her country (Gabon). Ms. Mekui Biyogo does consul>ng from >me
to >me with FAO and WHRC, respec>vely by managing human‐wildlife conflict and being part of the team of
trainers for field measurements protocol on aboveground biomass data collec>on and carbon stock es>ma>on.
___________
Giang Nguyen Vu
Mr. Nguyen Vu is a researcher in Department of Remote Sensing Technology, GIS and GPS, at Space Technology
Ins>tute (STI) in Vietnam. He is responsible for developing applica>ons of remote sensing and GIS for
inves>ga>on, monitoring and management of sustainable use of natural resources. He has been working as
technical consultant for NGOs such as Asian Development Bank (ADB), Interna>onal Union for Conserva>on of
Nature (IUCN), and Netherlands Development Organiza>on (SNV) where he carried capacity building trainings
on land use planning and rural livelihood development; crea>ng land use, land cover maps; and forest cover
change analysis. Giang’s interests are in modeling land use and land cover change, es>ma>ng biomass, and
crea>ng emission maps from mul>‐sources remote sensing data. He also would like to develop his research on
urbaniza>on, importance of open spaces in urban and their effects on land surface temperature paSern.
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Grace Nangendo
Dr. Nangendo graduated from Makerere University, Uganda, with a bachelor degree in Forestry, from the
Interna>onal Ins>tute for Geo‐informa>on Science and earth observa>on (ITC), the Netherlands, with a Master
of Science degree in Geo‐informa>on for Forest and Tree Resource Management and, Wageningen University
and ITC, the Netherlands, with a Doctorate of Philosophy focusing on conserva>on of forest‐woodland‐savannah
mosaics. Grace has experience in the geospa>al industry and in natural resource management. Her interest is in
applying a spa>al component to forest dynamics and to other natural resources, in biodiversity and plant
ecology, and in local people’s use of forest resources. She has worked with WCS since June 2006 as the
Geographical Informa>on Systems (GIS) Manager.
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7. Peter Ndunda
Mr. Ndunda is the Geographical Informa>on Systems (GIS) Specialist at the Green Belt Movement. He directs the
ac>vi>es of a GIS lab for the Green Belt Movement to support the re‐afforesta>on, climate change and
community development efforts in Kenya. In addi>on, he manages the measurement and monitoring ac>vi>es
of the Green Belt Movement’s community carbon projects in Kenya. He is a member of the Carbon
Measurement Collabora>ve team that is coordinated by the Clinton Climate Inia>ve to support the development
of Na>onal Carbon Accoun>ng System (NCAS) in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, among other countries. Prior to
his posi>on at the Green Belt Movement, Peter worked as a GeoInforma>on Consultant with the WorldBank in
Washington DC. He is a graduate of Moi University, Kenya, and the University of Redlands, CA.
___________
Akchousanh Rasphone
Ms. Rasphone is a GIS/Spa>al Landscape Ecologist interested in carbon and forest cover/change mapping and
species habitat distribu>on modeling. Ms. Rasphone received her Bachelor of Technology in GIS from the
University of Southern Queensland (Australia) and her M.S. in Geographical Science from the Australian Na>onal
University. Ms. Rasphone is currently working with the Wildlife Conserva>on Society Lao PDR on a biodiversity
conserva>on project in the southern landscape of Laos as a project coordinator and GIS/Spa>al Landscape
Ecologist.
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Abel Siampale
Mr. Siampale is a Forester with solid skills in Forest Resource Assessments (Forest Inventories and GIS), currently
working for the Forestry Department, Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources in Zambia. His
interests focus mainly on sustainability and vulnerability assessments, forestry mapping, land use and land cover
change with 17 years of experience in using GIS. Before becoming a scholar with woods hole research center
(WHRC), he served as a Na>onal Consultant in Zambia for the integrated land‐use assessment (ILUA) project
under FAO and helped generate the current deforesta>on rate (map) for Zambia. Holds an undergraduate
diploma in forestry management, and postgraduate qualifica>on in Geo‐informa>cs.
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Mukund Srivastava
Mr. Srivastava a professional forester and a member of the Indian Forest Service (IFS). He has nearly 21 years of
field experience working in various capaci>es including Chief Conservator of Forests (Environment). He currently
works as Joint Director, Forest Survey of India and Head of Na>onal Forest Data Management Centre at FSI Head
Quarters at Dehradun, India. He received his Masters in Physics from the Indian Ins>tute of Technology, Kanpur
and Master of Technology (M.Tech) in RS and GIS from the Indian Ins>tute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, India.
He has published papers on Forest Produc>vity and Forest Fire Monitoring using RS and has wide experience in
public par>cipa>on in forest management. He is a member of a number of Government of India commiSees and
Technical Advisory CommiSees of provinces. He is taking special ini>a>ves to factor in the latest technical
interven>ons to improve forest cover mapping and biomass mapping.
___________
Isabel Trejo
Ms. Trejo is a biologist, working in CONABIO (Na>onal Commission for the Use and Knowledge of Biodiversity),
in a project called Bio‐Decision Support System (SSD), which seeks to create a soGware to
perform environmental impact analysis and can be used by individuals and/or ins>tu>ons that require guidance
on the environmental impact would the construc>on of any infrastructure. She is currently developing ways
to measure the impact of a pipeline that runs from Colima to Guadalajara. The goal is to develop tools for
the con>nued use of the system. She is personally interested in achieving her degree in mul>‐
scale distribu>on of species to provide a tool of the poten>al distribu>on of the same while using this tool in
order for the SSD to get future scenarios of the impact on the species.
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8. Diana Vargas
Ms. Vargas is an agricultural engineer with postgraduate studies in environmental impact assessment, MsC in
environment and management of biodiversity. She has professional experience in geographic informa>on
systems and use of remote sensing for monitoring natural resources, with emphasis on the analysis of land
cover. She is an expert in climate change, especially in issues related to accoun>ng of emissions from land use,
land use change and forestry (LULUCF) and the REDD mechanism. She is currently involved in the project
"Building Technical and Scien>fic Capacity to support REDD Projects in Colombia" in IDEAM, as part of the
working team developing and implemen>ng protocols for digital processing of satellite images for the
quan>fica>on of deforesta>on.
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Sitwala Wamunyima
Mr. Wamunyima received a Master of Science Degree in Geoinforma>on Science and Earth Observa>on ‐ Natural
Resources Management specializing in Environmental Systems Analysis and Management followed by studies at
ITC, The Netherlands. He has built his career in the field of forest resources management since 1995 when he
joined the Forestry Department, one of the government departments in the Ministry of Tourism, Environment
and Natural Resources in Zambia. He s>ll serves in the Forestry Department and is involved in forest inventories,
applica>on of remote sensing for forest monitoring, and large scale mapping. He also contributes to the decision
pool for the Forestry Department on aspects of budge>ng, strategic planning, and policy direc>on.
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