JAXA - ALOS-2 Mission logo.
November 14, 2016
On November 13（JST）, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the service, “JICA-JAXA Forest Early Warning System in the Tropics (JJ-FAST)” easily accessible from PCs and smartphones, based on monitoring data of deforestation and forest changes in tropical regions using JAXA’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2).
“JICA-JAXA Forest Early Warning System in the Tropics (JJ-FAST)”: http://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/jjfast/
In Amazon, Brazil from 2009 to 2012, JICA and JAXA had supported monitoring of illegal logging in near-real time using observation data by ALOS, the predecessor to ALOS-2. ALOS allowed us to constantly monitor tropical forests during rainy season thanks to its ability to penetrate clouds. More than 2,000 incidents of illegal logging were detected by forest monitoring by ALOS in Brazil, which greatly contributed to a 40 percent reduction in illegal logging areas.
JICA and JAXA agreed to monitor deforestation and forest changes in tropical regions using ALOS-2 on the basis of knowledge obtained through the support in Amazon, and announced “Initiative for Improvement of Forest Governance” at the Japan pavilion of the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris in 2015. (*1)
JJ-FAST was established as part of this initiative, and will provide the latest information on deforestation and forest changes in tropical region globally once 90 days on average. Everyone can use JJ-FAST anywhere under an environment capable of connecting to the Internet.
At the start of service, data of 5 countries in Latin America are released. The target area will expand gradually from African to Asian regions. The final goal is that JJ-FAST is to release monitoring data of approximately 60 countries which have tropical forests. The detection accuracy of deforestation in JJ-FAST will be improved according to users feedbacks.
ALOS-2 satellite
JJ-FAST based on data of huge forests monitoring from space can be an effective measure for developing countries which have problems in monitoring forests due to luck of infrastructure, poor public security, manpower shortage and luck of budget. JICA and JAXA support the sustainable forest management for developing countries through the spread of JJ-FAST, and try that reduction in deforestation in the long term leads to mitigation of climate changes.
JICA and JAXA will contribute to resolving various issues which developing countries face and global problems utilizing space technologies in the future.
Note:
*1) Press Release: JICA and JAXA Announce Forest Monitoring System Using ALOS-2 Satellite: Constant monitoring of deforestation throughout the tropics and open data access on the Internet (December 15, 2015).
https://www.jica.go.jp/english/news/press/2015/151215_01.html
Related links:
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA): https://www.jica.go.jp/english/
Earth Observation Research (EORC): http://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/en/
Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 "DAICHI-2" (ALOS-2): http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/alos2/
Images, Text, Credits: Independent Administrative Agency/Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)/National Research and Development Agency/Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
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