Addressing REDD using remote sensing and GIS tools - a case study in Sonitpur, Assam (India)
Student name: Ms Nazia Talat
Guide: Dr P K Joshi
Year of completion: 2010
Host Organisation: WWF - India
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Dr G. Areendran
Abstract: Forests provide various ecosystem services (like biodiversity conservation, climate regulation etc.) apart from
providing for the livelihoods to millions of people. Recently they have been recognized as an agent of climate
change mitigation. Deforestation is the second largest contributor to green house gas emissions. Avoided
deforestation was removed from the 2008-2012 commitment period of Kyoto Protocol because of concerns
about leakage. Reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) has evolved from its inception
in 2005 at COP 11 of UNFCCC. REDD is a concept to assist developing in voluntarily reducing Carbon
emissions by providing incentives for not promoting deforestation and degradation. A broader perspective, by
including conservation as well as protection, was incorporated recently in the REDD+ objectives. To gain
benefits under REDD developing nations will have to make robust monitoring methods which should be
measurable, reportable and verifiable (MRV). The definitions of forest, deforestation and degradation should be
same for all the nations to have a common methodology. Remote Sensing provides for a promising tool for
unbiased monitoring of forest areas. It can also help in identifying areas suitable for afforestation. This study
has taken Sonitpur district of Assam to demonstrate the use of Remote Sensing and GIS tools for monitoring of
forest areas under REDD. This district has seen large amounts of deforestation over the last 30 years. Multitemporal
satellite images were taken and post classification scheme was used for observing changes in the
forest areas over the years. Maximum deforestation was observed during the 1990 to 2001 period which may be
because of increased anthropogenic pressures. Secondary literature was used to find the values of biomass
associated with each forest class. Overall loss in biomass over the years was calculated. Biomass has direct
relationship with the carbon content. Carbon content was calculated by multiplying the biomass values by a
factor of 0.45. The amount of biomass lost was found to be 23.42 Mt from 1970s to 2006. And the carbon stock
that was lost was 10.69 Mt.
Keywords: Deforestation, REDD, Change Detection, Forest Biomass, Carbon stock
