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IJGPRM - Introduction to the second issue

 

D’après la synthèse du rapport du Groupe d’experts Intergouvernemental sur l’Évolution du Climat (GIEC)[1] published in 2014, human activity influences the climate of the Earth, given the 6 billion people who, in a way or in the other, act on the ecosystems by their multiple and varied activities.

This second issue of IJGPRM publishes the results of the assessment of the human impact, through its activities, on the vegetation of the Congo Basin using geospatial technology tools in order to contribute to the fight against global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions. This is more important due to the fact that the phenomenon of the greenhouse effect affects all countries, North and South, who must join hands to understand and best deal with the problem of the greenhouse effect. This is the Sine qua non condition for reducing the impacts of anthropogenic climate change and promoting sustainable land management and development.

However, if the implementation of integrated environmental accounting becomes important, adjusting Gross Domestic Product – GDP- (from general accounting) through the integration of monetary measures of depletion, degradation and protection expenditure of the environment to calculate a « green GDP » is not yet consensus for various technical reasons.

De plus, le système de comptabilité environnementale ne prend pas encore en compte les services rendus par les écosystèmes et qui, pour partie, ne font pas l’objet de transactions monétaires (services de régulation du sol ou de l’eau, par exemple, «offerts» par les écosystèmes).

Ecosystem accounts would provide an overview of the state of ecosystems and a detailed description of the pressures they face in order to take these elements into account in public decision-making. For these reasons, integrating the value of ecosystems into national accounting systems was decided as the second objective of the Biodiversity Strategic Plan adopted at the Tenth Conference of the Parties during the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya[2] October 2010. All of these attempts have been federated by the World Bank in a partnership: the WAVES (Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services) initiative.

Ecosystem accounts would provide an overview of the state of ecosystems and a detailed description of the pressures they face in order to take these elements into account in public decision-making. For these reasons, integrating the value of ecosystems into national accounting systems was decided as the second objective of the Biodiversity Strategic Plan adopted at the Tenth Conference of the Parties during the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya[2] October 2010. All of these attempts have been federated by the World Bank in a partnership: the WAVES (Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services)[3].

La Convention sur la Diversité Biologique (CDB) préconise aux parties d’intégrer dans leur comptabilité nationale les valeurs de leur capital naturel. A part la CDB, la division des statistiques des Nations Unies a produit des normes statistiques pour cadrer cette approche. La Banque Mondiale a déjà financé plusieurs applications de la comptabilité écosystémique par le programme WAVES qui consite en la comptabilité du Patrimoine et en la Valorisation des Services Ecosystémiques pour aider les pays à intégrer la valeur du capital naturel dans les comptes nationaux. Il travaille à développer des méthodes scientifiquement crédibles pour la comptabilité des écosystèmes et favorise leur utilisation dans le processus décisionnel au sein d’un large éventail de parties prenantes. La comptabilisation des écosystèmes passe toujours par l’établissement de cartes d’occupation des sols. Cette cartographie se fait désormais, principalement par l’utilisation des images satellites.

This special issue of the International Journal of Geomatics, Planning and Resource Management questions the types of ultra-high resolution (THR) satellite data and geo-spatial tools that can quantify and evaluate forest dynamics and their Potential for carbon sequestration in the Congo Basin. Tihis second issue has 10 articles. Thus, the article by Onguene et al, which is in fact a keynote, deals with the stakes and the scientific opportunities of the evaluation of the carbon sequestration capacity in the Congo Basin. Anaba, Highlights the role of marginal forest formations in the Congo Basin in REDD + mechanisms and processes, while Ndjuala and al. and Teweche and al., and Zephania Nji Fogwe analyze the mechanisms and factors of dynamism of forest formations respectively in the forest massifs of Mount Cameroon, in the forest reserves of Zamay and Mayo Louti and on the Oku mountains. Modes of exploitation and/or management of natural or anthropogenic forest resources are questioned by Youta Happi in the locality of Koutaba, Mbengue et al., with historical-geographic approach and Muderwa et alin and around the Kahuzi Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The forest influenced by the city and the agroindustry is evaluated diachronically by Yapi-Diahou et alin Sub saharian Africa at all, and Yamafouo et al. in the estuary of Wouri in Cameroon.

From these scientific contributions, it is clear that there is a need to intensify the popularization of the results of the use of remote sensing for the evaluation of forest landscape dynamics and carbon sequestration capacity around the world and specifically for managers of Congo basin forests. The continued implementation of programs to facilitate access to images by satellites and drones, such as the OSFT program (Spatial Observation of Tropical Forest), is crucial for this line of research. This initiative, funded by the French Development Agency, provides high-resolution satellite images acquired by the SPOT satellite to the countries of Central Africa. The Sentinel images presented by Jean Paul Rudant complete the range of these free-access data. But it is necessary to create Bachelor programs and professional Masters on the judicious, effective and efficient use of these tools, like the Master GAGER (Geomatics, Planning and Resource Management) of the University of Ngaoundere; The ultimate goal is to provide States Parties, Policy Makers and Civil Society Organizations with effective and efficient decision support tools for sustainable management of forest resources.

En fait, les forêts abritent une diversité biologique (ou biodiversité) très importante, rendent un bon nombre de services vitaux et peuvent stocker bien des gaz à effet de serre comme le CO2. La mondialisation a toutefois pour effet de renforcer la pression sur ces forêts, notamment en milieu tropical. Il est, par conséquent, indispensable de collaborer à leur gestion durable à l’échelle internationale, afin de lutter contre le réchauffement climatique, de protéger l’environnement, de lutter contre la pauvreté et de préserver la vie sur terre.

C’est ce souci qui est à la base de la création, en 2005 par les principaux pollueurs du monde, du programme UN-REDD+ qui signifie Réduction des Emissions issues de la Déforestation et de la Dégradation forestière. L’ajout du « + » correspond à la prise en compte de l’augmentation des stocks de carbone, par exemple via des pratiques sylvicoles adaptées ou des plantations. Des projets de grande valeur ont été initiés par des ONG, des entreprises, des gestionnaires de projets, des forums régionaux et internationaux, ainsi que des autorités nationales et régionales. Toutefois, bon nombre d’abus, dûs surtout au manque de clarté concernant ce qui peut être ou non identifié «REDD+» ont été relevés à toutes les échelles. C’est pourquoi, Alain Karsenty (2015) note que «the REDD + mechanism, which has been designed to help Southern countries reduce their emissions from deforestation, has so far not really fulfilled its role and has given rise to questionable practices» because deforestation in tropical environments accounts for only 10 to 15% of annual human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. Funding for the scheme was to be based on emission permits that southern countries which had reduced their deforestation would have sold to the countries of the North. Negotiations, however, have not yet resolved this point, as several countries, like Bolivia, oppose what they perceive as an attempt to commodify nature. An alternative would be to mobilize the Green Climate Fund, created in 2009 in Copenhagen. But it still has not fulfilled his promise to raise $ 100 billion a year.

REDD +, at the present stage, seems to be an instrument of inextricable complexity that makes the happiness of consultants, consulting firms and a few decision-makers in tropical countries[4]. Its supposed effectiveness is based on the principle of payment to results. However, the assessment of these results is based on the production of reference scenarios such as « what would happen if nothing were done? », Unverifiable by definition (because if the project is realized the scenario can not be observed) and therefore easily manipulated. Other difficulties, such as the cancellation of emission reductions, if deforestation resumes, make it strenuous for the negotiating process to propose operational rules to implement this mechanism. Its only tangible reality is the numerous forest conservation projects stamped « REDD + » (Karsenty, 2015)[5].

This non-interventionist principle (hands-off, in the jargon of international experts) can not hold for a very long time against the pressures of the NGOs which fear, not without reason, a confiscation by the States, rights of use of the local communities on the Forests, or destruction of biodiversity for the benefit of tree plantations to store carbon. In the « participatory and inclusive » logic of international environmental governance, States Parties to the Climate Convention have introduced a number of safeguards, making the REDD + mechanism even more difficult to implement. In the context of a collapse in the price of emission permits and the fragmentation of carbon markets, the illusion that the opportunity costs of forest conservation could be offset has also faded.

Finally, decision-makers realize that, without prior investment in the agricultural and food systems of poor if not failing countries, there can be no « performance » in the fight against deforestation. These investments are largely part of official development assistance. And they must be accompanied by reforms (for example on land rights) that only continuous dialogue with the authorities of these countries can advance.

In November 2013, at the 19th Meeting of the Parties to the Climate Convention, after eight years of negotiations, the manual containing the basic rules for REDD + was finalized. The introduction of the manual was intended to allow full implementation of REDD + taking into account lessons learned from existing projects. Finally, at the climate conference in Bonn in June 2015, an agreement was reached. This concluded negotiations to make REDD +, the mechanism to support the fight against deforestation in developing countries, operational[6]. Immediately, two questions are relevant to geospatial technologists :

  1. Can we know and georeferencing all the trees in the Congo Basin?
  2. Is environmental accounting, with carbon credit as a backdrop, applied at the tree level? If yes, for a tree of which template?

By :
Michel TCHOTSOUA
Editor-in-chief

[1] https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/SYR_AR5_FINAL_full_fr.pdf

[2] https://www.cbd.int/abs/doc/protocol/nagoya-protocol-fr.pdf

[3] http://www.afd.fr/home/AFD/developpement-durable/DD-et-strategies/rioplus20/croissance-verte-developpement/initiative-waves

[4] In some countries, civil engineering firms or Local Support Organizations in Maternal Education have, in a few days, turned into a REDD + Expertise Cabinet just to catch the funds coming in through this channel. Yet the REDD + mechanism remains very complex and requires scientific research for far more precise measurement and quantification.

[5] http://envol-vert.org/forets-services/en-savoir-plus/2016/01/reflexions-sur-le-systeme-redd/

[6] http://www.climat.be/fr-be/politiques/politique-internationale/convention-cadre-des-nu/attenuation/redd

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