May 25, 2018 (JST)

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Forest Research and Management Organization (FRMO)/ Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI)

On May 25, 2018, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Forest Research and Management Organization (FRMO)/ Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI) signed the basic agreement concerning application of Earth observation satellite data to collaboratively solve issues surrounding the global forests.

In order to sustainably activate various functions of forests such as conservation of national landscapes, fostering of water resources and prevention of global warming, it is necessary to monitor the forest resources and to promote forest development systematically. Since a vast proportion of the world’s tropical rainforests lies in developing countries,where funds and human resources are limited the protective mechanism is not fully in place.

JAXA's Advanced Land Observing Satellite 2 "DAICHI-2" and other earth observation satellites promptly monitor wide swaths from space. The observation data enables us to track changes in the forests including disaster-hit and inaccessible areas.

Based on this agreement, JAXA will provide with local governments the satellite data for forest stewardship and the latest status through JICA-JAXA Forest Early Warning System in the Tropics (JJ-FAST)*. Data verification will ensue in developing countries to improve the accuracy of JJ-FAST by comparing JJ-FAST data with the ground-based counterpart including statistics of deforestation presented by FFPRI.
FFPRI will use the satellite data from JAXA to examine forest management methods that local governments can employ and explore possibilities to utilize the data for forest monitoring in developing countries.

JAXA and FFPRI will contribute to the solution of issues that threaten the forests through the use of satellite data.

*JJ-FAST
Jointly developed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and JAXA, JJ-FAST monitors removal and other changes of tropical forests using "DAICHI-2" satellite data. DAICHI-2 has the observation capabilities that penetrate the clouds which are present throughout the year above the portions across the tropics due to their long wet season. Currently, 77 countries are using JJ-FAST. In Brazil, the system helped identify and monitor the groups that illegally cleared the forest.