The past two weeks Silvia Huber and Daniel Druce have been in Honduras, where they have held a hands-on training session on using specialized remote sensing tools for forest monitoring with our partner, Forests of the World (Verdens Skove) and assessed the results in the field.

The aim of the training was to teach local key individuals from Forests of the World how to use Google Earth Engine and other tools for monitoring pine forests affected by the destructive pine bark beetle, including the methodology of a fire risk analysis.

We also evaluated the effectiveness of the results, we have created for pine bark beetle monitoring. Few areas are currently under attack from pine bark beetles, which limits the validation results, but attacks are expected in the near future, which is why it is important to develop monitoring systems now so they are in place when the attacks happen again.

Burnt areas were easily detected, which is good news as both threats cause the pine trees to turn red. Therefore, it is likely, that it will also prove a good indicator of pine bark beetle attacks but further validation is necessary.

Our training was well received, and we look forward to continuing our activities in Honduras with Forests of the World.

Forest of the World has written a blog post about our joint ventures in Honduras [in Danish], follow the link.