TOWARDS A SYSTEM COMBINING SAR AND OPTICAL DATA TO MONITOR GOLD MINING IN THE GUIANA SHIELD

摘要

Included in the Guiana Shield ecosystem which is oneof the largest blocks of intact tropical forest worldwide,Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and the Brazilianstate of Amapá play a critical role in mitigating climatechange, preserving biodiversity and regulating water ofthe Amazon basin. Under low pressure in the past,degradation of this fragile ecosystem is growing,especially driven by gold mining activities.The REDD+ for the Guiana Shield project developed amethod involving each country in data production tomonitor the impact of this activity on the forest coverand freshwater at the regional level. This paper presentsthe data and methodology that were used to quantify theimpact on the forest cover. It discusses the results ofthree reference years (2001, 2008 and 2014) whichconfirmed the alarming expansion of gold mining in theregion. Furthermore, the paper shows the results ofinnovative methods combining the use of optical andSynthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite data on pilotsites to improve the efficiency of future monitoring.