January 9 to 25, 2017, DESS students Zhao Yuanyuan, Feng Dole and Professor Gong Peng went to three East Africa countries Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia for field trips. They collected surface coverage data, and the collection focused on the bamboo samples and samples of vegetation types easily confused with bamboo. The contents of this study are part of the global bamboo forest mapping project commissioned by INBAR. The field data collected can both support the bamboo mapping of the three East African countries and contribute to the thematic mapping of croplands, natural forests and plantations, grasslands of Africa.

The field trips in the three countries were supported by the local forestry sector and the environmental sector, DESS group discussed with the local experts to determine the most representative route of study, as far as possible in the study to cover more climate types and landform units. The investigation work travaled more than 3300km, more than and 800 samples were collected, enrich the global land cover field observation sample library which has been continuously improved for many years.

January 13th to 14, the research group successfully carried out a training on land cover mapping Nairobi, the capital ofi Kenya, 18 members paticipated in the training were from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda. The training showed a series of global land cover mapping products and their application completed by Tsinghua University, and introduced the basic principles and methods of land cover mapping. The train also demonstrated the newly developed assistant tool for land cover sampling and mapping. The investigation and training further enhanced the impact of the Tsinghua University on global mapping of surface cover, further enhanced the ability of the Tsinghua University to map the surface land cover and monitor the changes in africa.

Pic. 1 The members paticipated the training in RCMRD (Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development)

Pic 2 Prof. Peng Gong was delivering a report on land cover mapping during the training

Pic 3. The research team was investigating bamboo forest in Kiambu under the guidance of Kenya Forestry experts

Pic 4. The research team was investigating the fire trace and the bamboo seedlings in Asosa area in Ethiopia

Pic 5. Prof. Gong and Mike Magisa, director of the State Forestry Administration of Uganda

Pic 6. The research team was sampling in a bamboo farm in Migori and communicating with local framers