The Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) – a flagship of the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) – held its third Capacity Building Summit on the University of Maryland campus in College Park, Maryland, from 1/30-2/3/23. The Summit, which focused on needed capacity development interventions in the area of forest monitoring, brought together representatives of various national governments and organizations supporting GFOI. It featured presentations on state-of-the-art forest monitoring research and panel discussions about gaps in capacity. On behalf of SERVIR, Emil Cherrington of the SERVIR Science Coordination Office (SCO) presented on SERVIR’s capacity development activities related to land cover monitoring, including the ongoing SERVIR CArbon Pilot (S-CAP) efforts. In addition to representation from the SERVIR SCO, from the broader SERVIR network Evan Notman and Janet Nackoney from USAID also participated in the Summit, as well as current SERVIR Applied Science Team (AST) Robert Kennedy, and former AST PI Pontus Olofsson. The meeting was co-hosted by SilvaCarbon – the US Government’s contribution to the GFOI and a sister initiative to SERVIR.
