Assessment and monitoring of Siberian forest resources in the framework of the EU-Russia ZAPÁS project

ZAPÁS investigates and cross validates methodologies using both Russian and European Earth observation data to develop procedures and products for forest resource assessment and monitoring. Products include biomass change maps for the years 2007 to 2009 on a local scale, a biomass and improved land cover map on the regional scale as input to a carbon accounting model. The geographical focus of research and development is Central Siberia, which contains two administrative districts of Russia, namely Krasnoyarsk Kray and Irkutsk Oblast. The results of the terrestrial ecosystem full carbon accounting are addressed to the Federal Forest Agency as federal instance. The high resolution products comprise biomass and change maps for selected local sites. These products are addressed to support the UN FAO Forest Resources Assessment as well as the requirements of the local forest inventories.