by Phoebe Oduor

 Countries are required to report on their GHG emissions to UNFCCC every four years (mandatory) and every two years (intermediary)  In reporting it was observed that the LULC component was missing in the reporting and with several countries sending their request to UNFCCC for assistance in developing national LULC maps.  Six countries with similar Land covers were selected for the Land Cover Mapping for GHG Inventories.

 UNFCCC  USAID  US EPA  ICFI  NASA  SERVIR  RCMRD  University of Colorado  Governments

 1) Strengthen the institutional arrangements and inventory management systems, its functions, and ability to sustainably oversee the compilation of regular national GHG inventories for submission to the UNFCCC;  2) Enhance the technical capacity of designated personnel to produce well documented/transparent GHG inventory for the Agriculture and LULUCF sectors.  3) Improve national methodologies, activity data and emission factors through: ◦ Training and Capacity Building. ◦ Use of GHG inventory management tools specifically designed for the Agriculture and LULUCF sectors. ◦ Assistance from experts with specific knowledge on these source/sink categories. ◦ Guidance on developing land use maps ◦ Regional networking.

 To collect ancillary and ground reference data for validating land cover maps for each country.  To develop Land Cover maps from Landsat satellite images using remote sensing techniques for 2000 and 2010 epochs.  Development of replicable and consistent procedures.  To build capacity of the countries through training on Land Cover mapping for GHG Inventory Development in the ESA Region.

 Gathering existing and or historical land use maps and previously collected ground reference data.  Identifying the classification scheme to be used within each country.  Reworking and documenting the metadata of the existing land use land cover and related products.  Ensuring that enough relevant data is made available for classification of satellite imagery to the required classes/categories.  Documenting national description of land use land cover categories in reference to IPCC guidelines and subcategories.  Identifying data gaps with regard to land cover categories.

 Classification scheme used was informed by country specific interest, definitions, descriptions, mapping goals and policy statements and documents based on IPCC guidelines.  Classification Scheme: o Scheme I: IPCC defined o Scheme II: defined by the country  Classification is such the Scheme II category can be rolled back to scheme I category.

 10 - Forest land  30 – Grassland  40 – Cropland  50 – Wetland  60 – Settlement  70 – 0ther Land

 Ground reference data is collected to train the computer to recognize the various land cover categories latent in the imagery and to assess the categorical accuracy of the resulting classification.  Ground reference data set for land cover classification: ◦ The data collection method should be systematic. ◦ The method must have an element of randomness to avoid selection bias. ◦ A sufficient number of reference samples. ◦ The reference data must be reasonably contemporary. ◦ The level of accuracy of the reference data must be high.

 Ground referencing exercise has been done as a joint effort of the countries.  The Country is trained on how to collect and attribute the required data using sample points. Field Training Exercise in ZambiaOfficer collecting field point on Annual Cropland

 An accuracy assessment was done using ground referencing data collected from the field.  The point data was overlaid on the classification dataset of The assigned land cover attribute from the field is compared with the results of automatic interpretation.  Typically the accuracy threshold for a land use or land cover dataset is 75%. CountryScheme IScheme II MalawiKappa: Overall Accuracy: Kappa: Overall Accuracy: RwandaKappa: Overall Accuracy: Kappa: Overall Accuracy: ZambiaKappa: Overall Accuracy: Kappa: Overall Accuracy:

 This is one of the core objectives of this project to enhance continuity and sustainability for continuous GHG inventorying.  On the job training is conducted for a period of two weeks.  Countries are encouraged to support the capacity building by facilitating for more people to attend the training.  Zambia for instance through funding from FAO Zambia enabled three more people to participate in the training.  The Botswana Government through various ministries: Survey and Mapping, Town and Regional Planning and the Ministry for Agriculture have been able to fund 8 more people to participate in the Capacity Building.  Countries that have been trained do far: ◦ Malawi and Rwanda ◦ Zambia ◦ Botswana and Namibia (Ongoing)

Ancillary Data Collection and Classification Scheme Development Workshops: Malawi Classification Scheme Development Workshops : Rwanda Classification Scheme Development Workshops : Zambia

 This project has been able to deliver Scheme I and Scheme II Land Cover maps for the epochs of 2010 and 2000 for: Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia so far.  Namibia work is on progress.  Botswana and Tanzania are yet to be done.  Maps for 1990 epoch are also available for Malawi and Rwanda and Zambia. The 1990 epoch for Zambia was developed by the Zambians.  A reliable methodology for Land use Land cover mapping has been developed that is consistent and replicable.

 Through capacity building the continuity of successive land cover mapping has been achieved.  Land Cover maps produced are envisaged to be used as an input in the ALU tool (Agriculture Land Use tool).  ALU tool uses an empirical formula to determine the GHG emissions for a country using activity data from different sectors: Agriculture, Transport, Industrial, Energy and Waste. And using Land cover maps as baseline data.

 Extension of GHG land cover mapping to include more countries.  A reconnaissance exercise which was not supported due to budgetary limitations should be included.  Extensive field work to ensure that most of the country is covered for more reliable accuracy assessment.  Development of Scheme III Land use Land cover maps.