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Cycle 4 (2015 Deadline)
Monitoring forest cover changes in Bhutan using Landsat data in a cloud-computing environment
PI: Kinley Tshering (kinleytshering@gmail.com), Ugyen Wangchuck Institute of Conservation and Environment
U.S. Partner: Kevin Megown, Remote Sensing Applications Center, USDA Forest Service
Project Dates: November 2015 - September 2018
Project Overview
The National Forest Policy of Bhutan requires the country to maintain 60% forest cover, but there is increasing deforestation, degradation, and diversion of forest land due to population and development pressures. The Bhutanese government has faced challenges in getting reliable estimates of changes in forest cover over time and keeping track of where actual changes are happening on the ground. Meanwhile, the expanded availability of satellite imagery has led to an explosion of analysis algorithms that are based on the pixel rather than global image statistics, making it possible to examine the state as well as the dynamics of biophysical systems. This pixel-based view of image processing is a fundamental shift in the way remote sensing analysis is performed.
A key scientific objective of this PEER project was to exploit forest cover-related data for Bhutan in the Landsat data archive using Google Earth Engine (GEE). This approach had not previously been applied to detection and monitoring of forest cover change in Bhutan, as well as adjoining countries in the Hindu Kush Himalayas. Forest cover change is an important indicator for not only ecosystems but also for livelihood systems in Bhutan because the predominantly rural population still depends directly on adjoining forests for their daily needs. Spatial and temporal data on changes in forest cover will be key to ground implementation of policies concerning sustainable development and livelihoods, management of natural resources, environmental conservation, and ecosystem services, especially in rural Bhutan.
Final Summary of Project Activities
The PEER team produced maps that showed changes in vegetation cover over the years and tracked incidences of previously unknown vegetation change. Researchers can now easily detect changes in the density of vegetation, severity of burnt areas, areas infested by pests and diseases, grazing areas, major landslides, and any other land cover changes. To check the accuracy of their satellite imagery-based maps, the project researchers undertook ground verification trips to forest management units, hydropower construction sites, national highway construction sites, landslide areas, quarries and mining sites, as well as recently burned forest sites.
The project included a significant training component, with two extended visits to the United States by several team members each time, including not only researchers but also operational staff from the Bhutanese Department of Forests and Park Services. In November-December 2017, Dr. Tshering and six colleagues spent two weeks at the Geospatial Technology Applications Center of the USDA Forest Service in Salt Lake City for a training workshop and study tour. They received training on Google Earth Engine, learned how to map burn severity, and collaborated with USFS counterparts to develop and test a forest change detection algorithm for use in Bhutan. They also familiarized themselves with the operations of the USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis unit. In August 2018, the PI and three colleagues returned for another visit with their USFS partners, followed by visits to the Bhutan Foundation in Washington, DC, and the lab of Dr. Edward Cook at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.
The PEER team also organized a Regional Technology Sharing Workshop with participants from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal. The PI has won two grants worth a total of $300,000 to carry forward this PEER project work and a related project on forest fires, as part of a World Bank-funded project on REDD+ Readiness for Bhutan, and the Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation.
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