IVACTO MEMBER COUNTRIES OBSERVATION ROOMS REGIONAL ENCOUNTER: TECHNICAL MEETING

Meeting Minutes

In Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, from September17 - 18 2015, Governmental Representatives from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Surinameand Venezuelaparticipated in the IV ACTOMember Countries Observation Rooms Regional Encounter: Technical Meeting. The list of participants can be found in Annex 1.

  1. The Meeting objectives were:

To present and evaluate the advancements in the implementation of the Work Plan for 2014-2015, defined in the 3rd Encounter of Observation Rooms (Bogotá, Colombia - October 2014); and agreed upon in the 4th Steering Committee for the ACTO Project in (Coca, Ecuador - in October 2014).

To discuss and propose a new Work Plan for the Observation Rooms for the period 2015 -2016 that would consolidate, broaden and strengthen the work performed in the rooms, in their continued support to the effort made by the countries in monitoring their Amazon regions.

To discuss the preparation of the Regional Maps.

  1. The encounter of the Observation Rooms was inaugurated by the General Director of Forestry Management and Development of Bolivia, MoisésNavia, who thanked for the support of the SP/ OTCA in establishing the Observation Room in the country, through the Project of Deforestation Monitoring. This support has allowed the Ministry of Environment and Water to have official and timely information related to forest coverage; not only information on deforestation, but also information on follow-up on heat spots and burnt areas. Also, thanks to the work in the Observation Room, management instruments were able to be generated for the sector which allow political decision-making and integral development of the forests, for their conservation, management and use. Director MoisesNavia presided this Regional Encounter.
  1. On behalf of the Permanent Secretariat, the General Secretary of PS/ACTO,a.i Carlos Aragon, expressed his gratitude to the Delegations and made a retrospective presentation of the Project, along with its relation to the present processes being met with for the strengthening of the monitoring of the forest cover and its contribution to sustainable forestry management in the Member Countries.

Development of the Agenda: Presentations

  1. The work of the Observation Rooms of this IV Encounter began with the presentation of the Environment Coordinator ofPS/ACTO, Antonio Matamoros, on the dynamics, objectives and results expected from this event. The Presidency of the encounter put under consideration of the Delegations the agenda, which then was approved.Annex 2. Next, the Project Coordinator, Carlos Salinas, presented the status of implementation of the Project, making reference of the operation of the Observation Rooms (ObsR).
  1. Next, the Member Countries Representatives: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru,Surinameand Venezuelamade their presentations on the activities and processes that are being met in their Observation Rooms, along with their expectations and training needs. Brazil, manifested the importance that knowing about the experiences on deforestation monitoring in each country has for the Project along with observing how the Observation Rooms strengthen the monitoring management. All the presentations can be found in Annex 3and were turned over to the participants in a pendrive.
  1. In relation to the presentations by the Representatives, the following thoughts stood out: that the ObsRcontributed significantly in the preparation of the deforestation maps and generation of results on topic of forest cover and fires which are being disclosed at the national level. It is appreciated that ObsRhave been working with other national organizations in relation to the topic of deforestation monitoring, which potentiates and enhances their work, generating management instruments, such as Primary and Secondary Forest characterization, Identification of Terrain Units at landscape and sub-landscape levels, etc.
  1. As far as Research Rooms are concerned, some Delegations expressed that this could be an area of research within the same observation rooms and eventually specialists could be hired (post-graduate degrees) in topics of interest related to sustainable forestry. Other Delegations made reference to the research rooms operations, and said they should be integrated with the operations of ObsR, so that in this manner the topics which are priorities can be easily harmonized within the research and could be put into practice in the ObsR.
  1. The Delegations highlighted the importance of the PS/ACTOtraining program developed in CRA/INPE inBelèm, on deforestation monitoring topics, TERRACLASS, fires, radar, etc.
  1. Continuing with the approved agenda, The Chief of CRA/INPE, Alessandra Gomes, in her presentation referred to the regional maps, and in particular the on being completed for the period 2013-14, and also, the adjustment suggestions for the new 2014-2015 map.It was agreed that the countries will send a vectorlayer of rivers (Shapefiles) to CRA/INPE in order to finalize the original maps. In relation with the class color it was agreed to change the color of the cloud / without information class from blue to grey.
  1. It was agreed the elaboration of Land Cover Map of the 2010 – 2012 years, with the following classes: secondary vegetation, agriculture, grasslands, urban area, mining, others and clouds / notobserved areas.

Second Day: Topic Revisions

  1. During this day the Vice Minister of Environment, Biodiversity, Climate Change and Management, and Forest Development of Bolivia, Gonzalo Rodriguez Camara, welcomed the participants and thanked ACTO for the support received,in the form of an Observation Room which provides annual deforestation information and hot spots by means of Whatsapp and also that a proposal for room continuity in a third phase should be considered.
  1. The corresponding session for the second day continued as planned in the approved agenda. The Delegations reviewed the following topics: research rooms, training requirements at the INPE/CRAfor the 2016 (Program Proposals); and the Operative Plan for the Observation Rooms Proposal for 2015 -2016.
  1. The topic of Research Rooms were put on debate with the following results: there is the commitment to continue strengthening the implementation process for the Research Rooms in the context of the Project. PS/ACTOwill send the Member Countries a questionnaire to receive and systematize the topic information.
  1. There was a debate on degradation. The Delegations manifested their points of view and an interest in knowing more about the topic, particularly in the regional context. PS/ACTO included a proposal to explore requested actions on this topic made by the countries to carry out Video conferences and regional workshops.
  1. On the training requirements at INPE/CRA, the Delegations considered the presented Proposal,the adjustments and accepted the proposed timeline.
  1. In relation to the Operative Plan for the Observation Rooms Proposal for 2015-2016, after the evaluation and adjustments, the proposal was accepted.
  1. After deliberating during the two days of the IV Encounter of Observation Rooms, the Delegations requested the next Steering Committee for the Project to adopt the WorkPlan for the Observation Rooms for 2015-2016that are located in Annex 4.
  1. Finally they thanked the Plurinational Government of Bolivia, theBNDES, the Regional Amazon Program (BMZ/ DGIS/ GIZ), theITTO, ABCand the SP/OTCA for their hospitality, support provided and organization demonstrated in carrying out this IV Regional Encounter of Observation Rooms.

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, September 18, 2015.

Annex 1. LISTA OF PARTICIPANTS

Annex 2. AGENDA

Annex 3. PRESENTATIONS

Annex4. OPERATIVE PLAN FOR THEOBSERVATION ROOMS 2015-2016

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