GLAD

In order to advance the ICCC Peatland & Peatland Mapping (PPM) cluster’s work on peatland mapping and link the center’s work to the One Map movement, USFS International Programs (USFS/IP) seeks to establish a partnership with the University of Maryland (UMD) for future research activities related to peatland mapping and the Indonesia One Map Initiative. As a leading research institution for the study of land cover and land use change mapping, the University of Maryland’s Department of Geographical Sciences will offer cutting-edge scientific analysis related to opportunities and challenges of peatland mapping in Indonesia. UMD will provide spatial analysis for various activities in support of establishing authoritative geospatial data layers for Indonesian peatlands. In order to achieve this, UMD will establish a postdoctoral fellowship for a recent Indonesian PhD graduate to serve as the Geospatial Advisor for ICCC activities related to peatland mapping and other One Map-related initiatives. Following the Integrated Data Analysis, UMD and ICCC will develop guidelines for the use of remote sensing analysis to instruct the design of field assessment campaigns.  Since field inventory is expensive and dependent on significant infrastructural capacity, enhanced stratification techniques will support more efficient allocation of field resources. These remote sensing techniques will also aid ground verification campaigns of future mapping efforts. To produce these guidelines, ICCC Peatland & Peatland Mapping Cluster Coordinator, USFS Indonesia Research Ecologist, and University of Maryland will review previous field efforts of the Peatland Mapping Methodology Assessment and similar projects implemented by other partners.