The Forest Management Bureau (FMB), together with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Philippines and United States SilvaCarbon Program co-hosted the
Fifth Global Forest Observation Initiative (GFOI) Regional Technical Workshop on Accuracy Assessment of Land Cover/Land Use Maps last January 25-29, 2016 in Seda Hotel Nuvali, Sta. Rosa, Laguna. The workshop is aimed at providing participants from the SilvaCarbon South and Southeast Asia countries with an understanding of past and on-going forest cover map accuracy assessment efforts and guidance for enhancing future activities.
The workshop was participated by remote sensing (RS) and forestry technical staff and officers from the SilvaCarbon countries with lectures and presentations from leading researchers and implementers of RS in climate change mapping. Director Ricardo L. Calderon gave the welcome remarks highlighting the importance of technology, specifically remote sensing, in forest monitoring. There were presentations and discussions on country updates on forest mapping, accuracy assessment, reference materials and open-source software. A field exercise was also conducted in Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve, Laguna.