Workshop on Remotely sensed (RS) monitoring, 2019

Understanding and monitoring the effects of ecological restoration is one of the key challenges during the forthcoming United Nations Decade of restoration. Remote sensing provides huge possibilities for achieving data and results that cannot be reached by field work. Despite recent important advances, few methods can be directly taken up by practitioners interested in monitoring the change of peatland ecosystems.

A workshop tackling the challenges of remotely sensed (RS) monitoring the effects of peatland restoration was organized in Oulu, Finland 23-25th September 2019.

The aim was, firstly, to bring together specialists working with different RS methods, and hence enhance understanding on ongoing work in different European countries. The short presentations by the participants and lively discussions showcased the diverse and often uncoordinated work going on related to RS on peatlands in Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Latvia and Lithuania.

Secondly, the participants searched answers for practical problems related to developing RS methods for Finnish restored peatlands. This was done by workshopping and familiarizing with local peatland restoration methods in the famous Olvassuo mire complex.

Some answers for open questions were received during the workshop. However, many questions remain open, and could be more efficiently solved by better understanding the work by other projects and institutions; further co-operation was seen highly useful. The participants, therefore, agreed to establish a network to continue working together towards common goals.

The workshop was organized by Hydrology LIFE project financed by the European Commission LIFE funding. It was part of the Natura 2000 biogeographical process that aims at enhancing co-operation between Natura 2000 managers.

Presentations (pdf files)

• Hydrology LIFE project presentation (Tuomas Haapalehto, Metsähallitus, Parks & Wildlife Finland)
• Life Mires of Estonia, project presentation (Marko Kohv, Estonian Fund for Nature)
• Experiences gained in mapping mire vegetation and topography using airborne discrete-return and waveformrecording lidar and multi-view image analyses (Ilkka Korpela, University of Helsinki)
• A short introduction to some of my latest research (Aleksi Räsänen, University of Helsinki)