Feasibility of a monitoring programme for the Guiana Shield Initiative

The Guiana Shield region contains more than 25% of the world’s tropical rainforests, most still in pristine condition. The Guiana Shield Initiative is working to preserve this ecologically important and unique area of the earth. In order to do so, up-to-date and accurate information is needed – a greater part of which could be fulfilled by the development of a suitable monitoring system based on remote sensing methods. The aim of this report is to outline the approach to monitoring that could be taken when contracts are established between local ecosystem managers and the Guiana Shield regional financial mechanism. Information needs feasibility and costs of monitoring at a regional level are identified and a proposal for a multi-scale monitoring system is made.