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(Harsha Vardhan | MAR 28, 2016) Geospatial business have identified 7 potential areas, where the geospatial industry would actively work in the future, where the business and job market would be. Please note that these are very boarder figures, taken from various published reports.

All this is available under page 4 of the Geospatial World Forum 2016 brochure, and ‘Where is the Money?’ is the key topic under discussion in the plenary sessions at Geospatial World Forum 2016.

7 key areas for geospatial business

Here are the 7 key areas, where there is a potential of geospatial business right from IoT for Smart Cities, to Big Data; Indoor & Mobile Mapping to Analytics.

Prospect areas for geospatial business Overview of business potential
Smart Cities & Internet of Things (IoT) IoT deployments will create $421 billion in economic value for cities worldwide
Big Data Analytics Worldwide big data technology and services market to grow to $48.6 billion in 2019
Mobile Sensors & Mapping The mobile mapping market size is estimated to grow to $26.6 billion by 2020
Indoor Positioning & Mapping By 2018, around $10 billion in spending to be touched or directly affected by indoor location. Global indoor location market is predicted to grow to $4.4 billion by 2019
Cloud Computing Global cloud computing services market to reach $127 billion by 2017
Open Data Globally, seven sectors alone could generate $3 trillion to $5 trillion a year in additional value as a result of open data For the period 2016-2020, the direct market size for open data in Europe is estimated at €325 billion
Location Based Services By 2019, over 7 billion GNSS devices will be in use. Location based services market to grow 8.3% annually

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(16 March 2016) Jason-3, a new U.S.-European oceanography satellite mission with NASA participation, has produced its first complete science map of global sea surface height, capturing the current signal of the 2015-16 El Niño.


The U.S./European Jason-3 satellite has produced its first map of sea surface height, which corresponds well to data from its predecessor, Jason-2. Higher-than-normal sea levels are red; lower-than-normal sea levels are blue. El Nino is visible as the red blob in the eastern equatorial Pacific. (courtesy: NASA/JPL Ocean Surface Topography Team)

The map was generated from the first 10 days of data collected once Jason-3 reached its operational orbit of 830 miles (1,336 kilometers) last month. It shows the state of the ongoing El Niño event that began early last year. After peaking in January, the high sea levels in the eastern Pacific are now beginning to shrink.

Launched Jan. 17 from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base, Jason-3 is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in partnership with NASA, the French Space Agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). Its nominal three-year mission will continue nearly a quarter-century record of monitoring changes in global sea level. These measurements of ocean surface topography are used by scientists to help calculate the speed and direction of ocean surface currents and to gauge the distribution of solar energy stored in the ocean.

Information from Jason-3 will be used to monitor climate change and track phenomena like El Niño. It will also enable more accurate weather, ocean and climate forecasts, including helping global weather and environmental agencies more accurately forecast the strength of tropical cyclones.

Jason-3 data will also be used for other scientific, commercial and operational applications, including monitoring of deep-ocean waves; forecasts of surface waves for offshore operators; forecasts of currents for commercial shipping and ship routing; coastal forecasts to respond to environmental challenges like oil spills and harmful algal blooms; and coastal modeling crucial for marine mammal and coral reef research.

“Jason-3 has big shoes to fill,” said Josh Willis, NASA project scientist for Jason-3 at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “By measuring the changing levels of the ocean, Jason-2 and its predecessors have built one of the clearest records we have of our changing climate.”

That record began with the 1992 launch of the NASA/CNES Topex/Poseidon mission (1992-2006) and was continued by Jason-1 (2001-2013); and Jason-2, launched in 2008 and still in operation. Data from Jason-3’s predecessor missions show that mean sea level has been rising by about 0.12 inches (3 millimeters) a year since 1993.

Over the past several weeks, mission controllers have activated and checked out Jason-3’s systems, instruments and ground segment, all of which are functioning properly. They also maneuvered Jason-3 into its operational orbit, where it now flies in formation with Jason-2 in the same orbit, approximately 80 seconds apart. The two satellites will make nearly simultaneous measurements over the mission’s six-month checkout phase to allow scientists to precisely calibrate Jason-3’s instruments.

John Lillibridge, NOAA Jason-3 project scientist in College Park, Maryland, said comparisons of data from the two satellites show very close agreement. “It’s really fantastic. The excellent agreement we already see with Jason-2 shows us that Jason-3 is working extremely well, right out of the box. This kind of success is only possible because of the collaboration that’s been developed between our four international agencies over the past quarter century.”

Once Jason-3 is fully calibrated and validated, it will begin full science operations, precisely measuring the height of 95 percent of the world’s ice-free ocean every 10 days and providing oceanographic products to users around the world. Jason-2 will then be moved into a new orbit, with ground tracks that lie halfway between those of Jason-3. This move will double coverage of the global ocean and improve data resolution for both missions. This interleaved mission will improve our understanding of ocean currents and eddies and provide better information for forecasting them throughout the global oceans.

NASA and CNES shared responsibilities for Jason-3’s satellite development and launch. CNES provided the Jason-3 spacecraft, while NASA was responsible for management of launch services and countdown operations for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. NASA and CNES jointly provided the primary payload instruments. CNES and NOAA are responsible for satellite operations, with instrument operations support from JPL, which is managing the mission for NASA. Upon completion of Jason-3’s commissioning phase, CNES will hand over satellite mission operations and control to NOAA. Processing, archival and distribution of data products to users worldwide is being carried out by CNES, EUMETSAT and NOAA.

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth’s interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.

source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and spacenewsfeed

Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) Remote Sensing Applications Competition (RSAC 2015)

1st Category: Remote Sensing Application Development

The competition aims at promoting the utilization of the DubaiSat-2 mission data. DubaiSat-2 products are expected for a wide range of disciplines spanning from land use and land cover, topography and geology, terrestrial (vegetation) ecosystem, agriculture and forestry, hydrology and climate, oceanography and coastal zone, disaster and natural hazards, resource exploration, development of spatial data infrastructure research and so on. RSAC 2015 includes two categories. The Remote Sensing Application Development category and the “Challenge of Innovation” category.

More info

(By Juliet Van Wagenen | March 25, 2016). [Via Satellite 03-25-2016] Non-Geostationary (NGSO) satellites will contribute $175 billion to launch and manufacturing revenue in the next 10 years, leading satellite market growth opportunities while accelerating emerging satellite technologies, according to a new Northern Sky Research (NSR) report. NGSO satellites, or anything orbiting at an altitude other than 22,300 miles (36,000 kilometers) in the geostationary arc, are making headlines as of late with new entrants such as O3b — which has launched a growing fleet of Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites — OneWeb, SpaceX and LeoSat all planning sizeable Low Earth Orbit (LEO) telecom systems. More lower profile or unannounced systems are in the works as well, and legacy players, such as Iridium and Globalstar, have either recently completed or are in the process of refreshing NGSO constellations.

Carolyn Belle, NSR senior analyst and author of the “Satellite Manufacturing and Launch Services, 6th Edition” report, which looks at the market for satellites weighing more than 100 kilograms over the next 10 years, has reason to believe that, while only one or two new Low Earth Orbit (LEO) companies will survive, NGSO satellites will have a lasting impact on the manufacturing and launch market, generating more than half of the $285 billion total market revenue over the next 10 years.

“The total number of satellites in the GEO market is not changing that much in 10 years, but in terms of capabilities, the market could be vastly different in the next decade,” Belle told Via Satellite. “Not looking at the satellites but the operators, in the next 10 years there will be a lot more diversity in operators, especially in the NGSO side because it is becoming so much more affordable and easy to design and put a satellite into orbit for NGSO. Both the number of different operators and different applications will be higher in 10 years than where we are now.”

While she foresees the number of satellite orders hovering below 23 per year over the next decade, she points to advancements in technology and dropping manufacture and launch costs through developments made on NGSO spacecraft.

“There is more diversity now in what you can do and what people are looking to do in the NGSO front than in the GEO front. Advancing technology is feeding that a lot and improving on the value proposition of applications that do exist,” explained Belle.

Within the realm of Earth Observation (EO), for example, legacy players are pushing growth through new and advancing technology on NGSO satellites, by introducing new instruments that can supply higher resolution. This then allows those companies to address new target markets and introduce entirely new applications.

“We are seeing diversity in optical, so not images but different resolutions. Different spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions that diversify what the data product is and how emerging companies are leveraging much more on the software side to provide a more processed product to customers,” said Belle. “There are also a couple of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) constellations that have been proposed by commercial players. Also, space situational awareness has been proposed on the commercial side [and] it is big on the military side as well. Meteorology is another application for NGSO satellites, including climate monitoring.”

Meanwhile, in very small satellites of less than 100 kg, which are not covered in the report, Belle told Via Satellite that new value propositions are arising for applications such as marketing or entertainment, “things that satellites have just been too expensive for in the past.”

She is careful to note that GEO markets will remain a key source of revenue going forward, as commercial GEO communications will continue to be the highest value market segment at a stable $6 billion per year.

Belle also stresses that while NGSO constellations often involve large constellations of relatively inexpensive SmallSats, the constellations that are contributing to the uptick in launch rates are not the same spacecraft contributing to the forecasted increase in revenue.

“Today’s commercial communications and EO constellations are really designed on the premise of a low unit cost for manufacturing and to a lesser extent for launch, but for launch as well because they are smaller. For companies like OneWeb, O3b or UrtheCast — which has proposed a 16-satellite constellation — all of these are looking to leverage a lower cost for their satellites. Because of that they are contributing much more to launch rate than they are to revenue,” said Belle.

This means that while the commercial market is seeing a faster implementation of NGSO satellites, it will be military applications that bolster the revenue boost, as government spacecraft often involve larger and more expensive satellites.

“[Satellite applications] in situational awareness, reconnaissance and technology development especially is a lot of where that non-GEO revenue growth is coming from,” said Belle, noting that the strategic importance of space for the governments of U.S. and China is heating up and driving more room for non-GEO military spacecraft in national budgets. While NewSpace companies are jumping at these new applications and lower price points as a way to enter the satellite market, NSR expects only a few LEO communications companies will survive.

“One or two will reach the point of deploying a new constellation and building it out into a business because there are a lot of challenges along the way. All have to get past regulatory challenges; even if they already have access to spectrum it is a question of coordinating spectrum with other LEO or GEO players. Manufacturing, financing, having access to launch and launching on the right schedule will all present challenges and it’s going to be difficult for any one of these companies to come together and overcome all of that,” said Belle. Non-GEO startup survival is also a question of competition, as GEO players are bringing new HTS capacity online that will challenge a startup’s service value to customers.

Incumbent and new players will likely look to serve different ends of the market across all applications, however, dipping into EO, weather, remote sensing, etc., making room for both to serve customers in the industry. As “legacy” and new companies begin to add capacity to the market, Belle believes this competition can only be good for the industry as a whole.

“The contribution in increased competition is due to more capacity and a different type of capacity that potentially could be lower cost than what we have in GEO, which would exacerbate the pricing pressure that is already in play,” said Belle. “One of the effects that has on the market is pressuring GEO operators and manufacturers to keep advancing their capabilities in terms of the flexibility of the satellite and its being able to alter which coverage areas it has, and even being able to change the frequency of the satellite while it is in orbit … Operators want the flexibility to respond to a change in competition and user demand. I think we continue to see this trend toward more creativity, more innovation, investment and [Research and Development] R&D because of these LEO constellations.”

Source

The Earth has lost more than half of its wetland extent since 1900. The satellite-based Wetland Observation Service (SWOS) is working to provide a data portal that will have real-world impacts, helping to track wetland degradation, identify pollution sources, and assess restoration strategies.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, wetland extent has declined drastically. The Ramsar Convention, which focuses on wetland assessment and protection, estimates the loss as between 64 and 71 percent across the globe. Degradation of wetlands continues today, but researchers, stakeholders, and data managers are working to coordinate data and information to help address this ecological concern.

Wetlands are a breeding ground for life, rivaling rainforests in their productivity. In spring, the air is filled with insects transforming from aquatic pupae into flight-borne adults. Migrating birds rely on wetlands as a stop-over in their journey, dependent on the abundance food sources that wetlands provide. For other species, wetlands are the final destination for breeding.

The ecosystem services provided by wetlands are numerous, ranging from freshwater supply and food production to water filtration and flood mitigation. Yet wetlands continue to face threats of pollution, draining, and encroachment. Better data availability can help track these changes and allow decision-makers to better protect the resources.

Source

The Norwegian Coast Guard recently took part in a demonstration to test the feasibility of using satellite derived sea ice information products for navigation at high latitudes in the Arctic Ocean.

Nick Walker from eOsphere Limited and Lauri Seitsonen from VTT were invited onboard the Coast Guard’s icebreaking vessel, KV Svalbard, for a mission which left from Longyearbyen, Svalbard on 9 February 2016, travelled north into the sea ice, ultimately reaching a latitude of 82 degrees and 20 minutes, before returning to Longyearbyen on 16 February.
route

The aim was to demonstrate a system that integrates satellite derived ice information from different sources and delivers these products where they are needed, onboard vessels in the high Arctic where communication bandwidth is limited and expensive. Several of the most useful ice products were derived from ESA’s Sentinel-1 satellite radar imaging sensor, which allows sea-ice to be monitored even during the dark Arctic winter and through clouds, fog or snow. The system has been developed as a part of the POLAR ICE project, which is supported by the European Commission and includes partners from several European countries as well as Canada.

The demonstration highlighted the importance of the timeliness of getting the data out to vessels in these conditions. Sea ice is constantly moving because of winds, currents and tides. So the position of the ice might have changed substantially from that shown in a product that has taken several hours to arrive. The KV Svalbard encountered an example of this when tidal forces caused the gaps between the ice, which were clearly visible in a Sentinel-1 image in the morning, to have closed by the time a second image arrived later in the day. This “accordion” effect, where the ice opens and closes according to the lunar tidal cycles, was first described by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen over a century ago.
crew members

One way to obtain up-to-date information is to use ice forecasts, which of course, also provide information about the future. A popular product with the crew’s navigators was the ice forecast provided by the Danish Meteorological Institute, which includes information about ice concentration, thickness and drift. Robin Jensen, one of the KV Svalbard’s navigators explained “what we really like is a good forecast model with the drift and thickness of ice compared with up to date or real time pictures, because it’s really important for us to see how it looks like right now. Sometimes we have to go quite far to the east just to get a little bit north. There is a saying don’t work against ice.”

Nick Walker, the coordinator of the POLAR ICE project said “Lauri and I are really grateful to the KV Svalbard’s crew for making us so welcome onboard. We learnt a huge amount about really using ice information in action in the Arctic which is a completely different experience to being back in our offices. The whole issue of the timeliness of the data became really important, with the ship’s navigators often asking us “has a new satellite image arrived yet”, which also demonstrated to us how keen they were to see this data.”

Source

Source eOsphere

ECMWF has launched a new dataset called Simulated Satellite Data (SSD), which provides global high-resolution forecasts of the weather as seen from space.

Simulated satellite images generated from the SSD provide a unique view of global cloud cover and moisture features up to ten days into the future.

The new product is based on ECMWF’s global forecasts at the record-breaking resolution introduced by the model upgrade announced on 10 March 2016.

“These images provide an exciting and unique view of the atmosphere predicted by our new high-resolution model – as it would be seen from space,” ECMWF scientist Cristina Lupu said.

“Forecasters will be able to apply their expertise in inferring current weather from observed satellite images to understand future weather from the forecast images,” she added.

“We believe these products will play a crucial role in visualising forecasts of high-impact extreme weather events.”

The data is produced using relevant atmospheric model profiles and surface parameters from the operational high-resolution forecast. These are used to calculate brightness temperatures, which can be visualised as simulated satellite images.

Detailed comparison between simulated and actual, observed satellite images can alert modellers to deficiencies to focus on for future model development.

The data provides a nadir (top-down) view for every model grid point, whereas previous simulated images reproduced the equator-centred view from geostationary satellites.

The dataset is available in three-hourly steps up to day seven and in six-hourly steps up to day ten. It can be used to produce animations showing changes in the atmosphere over time

“More info“http://www.ecmwf.int/en/about/media-centre/news/2016/ecmwf-launches-new-simulated-satellite-data-product

The Newsletter is intended to provide information on the Project goals, activities and results, and it will regularly report the progress of the Project. The Newsletter can be downloaded from the Project website, www.ecopotential-project.eu

What is ECOPOTENTIAL?

ECOPOTENTIAL is a EU-H2020 project, funded under the call SC5-16-2014 – Making Earth Observation and Monitoring Data usable for ecosystem modelling and services. It started in June 2015 and it will last four years. With 48 partners and 28 protected areas involved, it is one of the largest EU funded projects on ecosystems and it … Continue reading “What is ECOPOTENTIAL?”

Who are the ECOPOTENTIAL Partners?

The ECOPOTENTIAL consortium is formed by 48 partners, including research institutions, universities, environmental agencies, international institutions, small and medium enterprises, with a high complementarity and expertise in all the various fields needed in the Project. The whole structure of the ECOPOTENTIAL Consortium creates a chain of research/applications/actions that go from the recovery, analysis and interpretation … Continue reading “Who are the ECOPOTENTIAL Partners?

What are the ECOPOTENTIAL Storylines?
The scientific partners are defining a number of narratives (the storylines), which contextualize the overall workflow of ECOPOTENTIAL in particular ecological, management and policy settings. A storyline links real-life issues which have broad relevance to many Protected Areas included in the ECOPOTENTIAL project. The storylines will specific the needs for Earth Observation data and in-situ … Continue reading What are the ECOPOTENTIAL Storylines

A storyline: alpine mountain lakes
Ohrid/Prespa, Gran Paradiso National Park, Sierra Nevada: Ecosystem services and biodiversity crisis across mountain lakes Mountain lakes are usually oligotrophic and host specialized ecosystems, rich in endemic species but with limited species range. This, paired with increasing environmental pressures, makes their biodiversity particularly sensitive to external pressures. As one of the primary species responses to … Continue reading A storyline-alpine mountain lakes

Discover a Protected Area: The Gran Paradiso National Park (Italy)
The Gran Paradiso National Park (GPNP) is located in Italy, in the western Alpine region. Instituted in 1922, it is the oldest Italian National Park and, with its surface covering 70,000 ha, is one of the most extended. It borders with the Vanoise National Park in France, thus forming a huge system of high-elevation protected … Continue reading Discover a Protected Area.The Gran Paradiso National Park

Discover a Protected Area: The Wadden Sea (The Netherlands)
The international Wadden Sea is a productive estuarine area, and one of the largest coastal wetlands of the world, in the southeastern coastal zone of the North Sea bordering northern Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. It is characterized by extensive tidal mud flats, saltmarshes, and deeper tidal creeks between the mainland and the chain of islands … Continue reading Discover a Protected Area-The Wadden Sea

News and Events in ECOPOTENTIAL
ECOPOTENTIAL General Assembly – Texel (the Netherlands) June 27th-30th 2016 The ECOPOTENTIAL General Assembly will take place in Texel (The Netherlands), on June 27th-30th 2016. It will be a unique occasion for gathering all the consortium partners and the scientific advisors, and it provides an important forum for discussing all scientific issues of the project. … Continue reading News and Events in ECOPOTENTIAL

19-20 October 2016, ExCel, London, UK: This event is a showcase for new civilian and commercial applications for UAVs. Our visitors span the breadth of new users: surveying, photography, mapping, GIS, emergency services, agriculture, utilities, infrastructure and more. Our exhibitors are the world’s most innovative UAV and UAV systems manufacturers.

As the industry grows, so does the Commercial UAV Show, which is now established as the best event for this industry outside of the United States. Why is it the best? It attracts more users, more buyers, and more business.

WHAT’S ON THE EXHIBITION FLOOR?

Demo Zone
A safe, netted large area on the exhibition floor where exhibitors who’ve booked 30 minute session demonstrate their UAV. This is one of the most popular innovations in 2015 and we plan to significantly extend our demonstration programme in 2016.

User & University Pavilion
We encourage UAV users and researcher to take a small space in our user & university pavilion. This ever-popular part of the floor is a great space to share ideas and meet innovators and to find out how new technologies are being combined in imaginative ways.

Poster Zone
A first for 2016, the poster zone is open to researchers, academics, and individuals who have a particular project or research area that they’d like to share with the industry.

Start Up Zone
We have a range of small pods available to start-up businesses. Only companies registered on or after 1 January 2014 are eligible.

Photo Gallery & Video Installation
Not just focused on industrial purposes, people are using drones to make art, taking stunning photographs and videos that show the world from a completely new angle. At the show, we are celebrating the creativity and talent that UAVs can unlock, with a video installation showcasing films shot from drone’s-eye-view. 

On top of this, there will be a gallery exploring the work of innovative photographers who strive to capture nature and civilization from a new perspective. Visitors will have the opportunity to choose their favourite, with the winner announced at a drinks reception on the 19th of October. 

Photography Workshop
Running throughout the conference will be a workshop which aims to teach photographers, both amateur and professional, the tips and tricks for using UAVs to increase the tools in their photographic arsenal. Drones can get to places that a conventional camera could never take you, and can capture great swathes of landscape. They represent a significant development in the history of photography.

Learn to use UAVs effectively, safely, and legally, and discover a new way of seeing.

WHAT’S IN THE CONFERENCE?

Regulation, Insurance & Training
The key to getting this industry off the ground the sessions covering regulation, insurance & training will ensure attendees come away knowing what is legal and safe.

Blue Light & Emergency Services Theatre
In response to visitor requests, we will be hosting a theatre dedicated to blue light and emergency services. Facilitating a series of discussions and case studies covering the broad variety of UAV applications utilised in civil operations.

Mapping, Surveying & GIS Theatre
Also, in response to visitor requests, we will run mapping, surveying and geospatial applications and case studies together in one theatre. This will help us attract a larger visitor audience from this sector and help you raise the profile of your brand in this space.

Utilities and Infrastructure Theatre
This theatre will cover key UAV applications across oil and gas, utilities, transport and other related sectors.

Book your place today via the show website at www.terrapinn.com/uav
www.facebook.com/CommercialUAVShow
www.twitter.com/totalunmanned
#uavshow

China’s sweeping program to restore forests across the country is working.

The vast destruction of China’s forests, leveled after decades of logging, floods and conversion to farmland, has become a story of recovery, according to the first independent verification published in today’s Science Advances by Michigan State University (MSU) researchers.

“It is encouraging that China’s forest has been recovering in the midst of its daunting environmental challenges such as severe air pollution and water shortages,” said co-author Jianguo “Jack” Liu, Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability and director of MSU’s Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability (CSIS). “In today’s telecoupled world, China is increasingly connected with other countries both socioeconomically and environmentally. Every victory must be measured holistically, or we aren’t getting a true picture.”

Forests are crucial to ensuring soil and water conservation and climate regulation. The fate of forests in the world’s most populous nation has global consequences by virtue of the country’s sheer magnitude and its rapid development.

Since the beginning of the 21st Century, China has implemented the largest forest conservation andRecovering forests, with deforested areas in the background in Wolong China restoration programs in the world, the Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP), which bans logging, and in some forested areas compensates residents for monitoring activities preventing illegal timber harvesting.

The MSU scientists used a unique combination of data, including the big-picture view of NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) annual Vegetation Continuous Fields tree cover product, along with high spatial resolution imagery available in Google Earth. Then they combined data at different scales to correlate the status of the forests with the implementation of the NFCP.

And, as the Chinese government has contended, the program is working and forests are recovering, with about 1.6 percent, or nearly 61,000 square miles, of China’s territory seeing a significant gain in tree cover, while 0.38 percent, or 14,400 square miles, experienced significant loss.

“Our results are very positive for China,” said author Andrés Viña of MSU-CSIS. “If you look at China in isolation, its program is working effectively and contributing to carbon sequestration in accordance to its agenda for climate change mitigation. But on the other hand, China is not in a vacuum.”

In the future, it is important to quantify how much China’s forest gain and improved carbon sequestration may be a loss for places like Madagascar, Vietnam and Indonesia. Those are among the countries that are chopping down their forests to sell products to China. And the global increase in greenhouse gases and loss of biodiversity may have just changed addresses.

Viña noted more research is needed to document the broader impacts of forest degradation and recovery around the world. He also noted that the voracious appetite for natural resources – both timber and the agricultural products grown on converted forestland – is not just China’s issue.

“We are all part of the problem one way or another,” he said. “We all buy products from China, and China has not changed their imports and exports of wood at all. What has changed is where timber is coming from.”