FAO Provides Development Support to FDA for Forest Analysis on Biomass, Carbon

Monrovia – As part of efforts to buttress the effort of the government, the FAO in partnership with the Forest Development Authority organized a capacity development event at the week where data managers from the National Forest Inventory (NFI) were trained in data analysis for biomass and carbon estimation.

Report by Jackson F. Kanneh, [email protected]

Since the inception of the “Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) in Liberia”,  the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has worked closely with the government of Liberia through the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) in promoting sustainable forest management in Liberia

Speaking at the workshop, James Kpadehyea, REED+ Liberia Coordinator, termed the exercise as “rewarding”.

He added that the training equipped participants with the necessary skills to undertake data processing and analysis.

he stressed that reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation leads to a significant decrease in the number of harmful carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, contributing greatly to national and international efforts to combat climate change.

The Liberia National Forest Inventory was launched in Lofa County in June 2018 and is intended to take stock of the forest resources in Liberia. 

It is funded by the Forest Carbon Partnership facility and is implemented by the FDA with technical support from FAO. NFI fieldwork activities have been completed in the REED+ priority areas and are now currently being conducted in non-priority areas. 

Data from the priority areas are being analyzed and used to produce estimates of key forest resources in these areas. Non-priority landscape areas will be analyzed at a later time, FAO said.

According to FAO, the intention of the training is to take all individuals involved in the collection and management of the NFI data through the process of importing the data previously collected in the field and validated through the cleaning process.

The process will involve defining the survey design, including complementary files and developing code to proceed with the estimation. 

FAO Forest Expert based in Rome, Italy, Javier Garcia Perez informed technicians that FAO supports countries to strengthen their capacities in designing, collecting, analyzing and reporting data from national Forest inventories.

He added that the support involves the collection of biophysical data that can satisfy national and international information requirements on forests management, carbon stock and biodiversity.